Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SECTION OF

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 594 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SECTION OF See also:ANGLE certum and (B)See also:Opus Re- facing. ticulatum. C shows the section, similar in both. Of See also:concrete walls faced with burnt bricks no dated example earlier than the See also:middle of the 1st See also:century B.c. is known. The facing Bi.kk consisted at first of triangular fragments of tiles (tegulae), lacing. broken for the purpose and more or less irregular in shape and See also:size, but from the latter See also:part of the 1st century A.D. onwards triangular bricks were specially manufactured for See also:wall-facings. This shape was adopted in See also:order to See also:present a large See also:surface on the See also:face with little See also:expenditure of See also:brick, and also to improve the See also:bond with the concrete behind (see fig. 4). Even party walls of small rooms are not built solid, but have a concrete core faced with brick triangles about 3 in. See also:long. In order to support the facing until the concrete was set, the See also:Roman builders used a wooden framing covered with planks on the inside. Sometimes the planks were nailed outside the wooden uprights, as was done with unfaced concrete walls, and then a See also:series of grooves appear in the face of the See also:brickwork. Walls faced with opus reticulatum must have been supported temporarily in the same way. The See also:character of the brick facing is a See also:great help towards deter-See also:mining the date of Roman buildings.

In See also:

early See also:work the bricks are thick and the See also:joints thin, while in later times the See also:reverse is the See also:case, so that brickwork of the See also:time of See also:Severus and later has more bricks to the See also:foot than that of the See also:Flavian See also:period. The length of the bricks as it appears on the face is no See also:guide to the date, since one or more of the See also:sharp points of the brick triangles were frequently broken off before they were used. Moreover. i The expansion of the See also:iron through See also:rust, which caused the See also:stone to split, has frequently been a great source of injury to Roman walls, as well as the practice, See also:common in the middle ages, of breaking into the stones in order to See also:extract the See also:metal. ' These two kinds of stone facings are mentioned thus by See also:Vitruvius (ii. 8), " reticulatum, quo nunc [reign of See also:Augustus] omnes utuntur, et antiquum, quod incertum dicitur. 'varieties both in quality of workmanship and size of the bricks often occur in work of the same date. In the remains of See also:Nero's See also:Golden See also:House great varieties appear, and some of the walls in.the inferior rooms are faced with very irregular and careless brickwork.' See also:Special care and neatness were employed in the rare cases when the wall was not to be covered with See also:stucco, which in the See also:absence of See also:marble was usually spread over both inside and outside walls. All these circumstances make great caution necessary in judging of See also:dates; fortunately after the 1st century A.D., and in some cases even earlier, stamps impressed on bricks, and especially on the large tiles used for See also:arches, give clearer indications. The See also:reason of the almost universal use of smooth facings either of opus reticulatum or of brick over concrete walls is a very puzzling question; for concrete itself forms an excellent ground for the stucco coating or backing to the marble slabs, while the stucco adheres with difficulty to a smooth facing, and is very liable to fall away. The See also:modern practice of raking out the joints to See also:form a See also:key was not employed by the See also:Romans, but before the See also:mortar was hard they studded the face of the wall with marble plugs and iron or See also:bronze nails driven into the joints, so as to give a hold for the stucco—a great See also:waste both of labour and material.' The quality of the mortar varies according to its date: during the 1st and 2nd centuries it is of remarkable hardness—made of See also:lime with a mixture of coarse pozzolana of a See also:bright red See also:colour; in the 3rd century it began to be inferior in quality; and the pozzolana used under the later See also:Empire is See also:brown instead of red. Concrete was at first always made of lumps of tufa; then travertine, See also:lava, broken bricks and even marble were used, in fact all the chips and fragments of the See also:mason's yard.

Under Concrete the Empire the concrete used was made with travertine walls and or lava for See also:

foundations, with tufa or broken bricks for vaults. walls, and with tufa or See also:pumice-stone (for the See also:sake of lightness) for vaults. Massive walls were See also:cast in a See also:mould; upright timbers, about 6 by 7 in. thick and 10 to 14 ft. long, were set in rows on each face of the future wall; planks 9 to 10 in. wide were nailed to them, so as to form a case, into which the semi-fluid See also:mass of stones, lime and pozzolana was poured. When this was set the timbers were re-moved and refixed on the See also:top of the concrete wall; then fresh concrete was poured in; and this See also:process was repeated till the wall was raised to the required height. Usually such cast-work was only used for foundations and See also:cella walls, the upper parts being faced with brick; but in some cases the whole wall to the top was cast in this way and ; %t 4 1. p. u1Fe the brick facing omitted. In strength and dura- FIG. 4.—Example of Marble Lining, from bility no See also:masonry, how- the Cella of the See also:Temple of See also:Concord. ever hard the stone or A. Slabs of Phrygian marble. B. large the blocks, could See also:Plinth moulding of Nuruidian ever etge l these walls ,of giallo." C. Slab of cipollino concr when made w hard lava or travertine, (Carystian marble).

D. Paving for each wall was one and a"u dus " of concrete bedding. perfectly coherent mass, G, G. Iron clamps run with See also:

lead to and could only be de- See also:fix marble lining. H. Bronze clamp. stroyed by a laborious J See also:Cement backing. process like that of See also:quarrying hard stone from its native See also:bed. Owing to this method of See also:building the progress of the work from See also:day to day can often be traced by a See also:change in the look of the concrete. About 3 ft. appears to have been the See also:average amount of wall raised in a day. Marble linings were fixed very firmly to the walls with long clamps of metal, hooked at the end so as to hold in a hole made in the marble slab. Fig.

4 gives an example, of the time of marble Augustus, fixed against a stone wall. The blocks were mange. usually marked in the See also:

quarry with a number, and often with with the names of the reigning See also:emperor and the overseer of the quarry. These quarry-marks are often of great value as indications of the date of a building or statue.' See also:Metropolitan Some of the bricks are as much as 21 in. thick, while 1; in. is the usual maximum for Roman bricks. The Roman method of applying stucco to walls with a wooden " See also:float " exactly as is done now, is shown in a See also:painting from See also:Pompeii (see See also:Ann. Inst., 1881, pl. H.). See Bruzza, in Ann. Inst. (1870), pp. 106-204; Hirschfeld, See also:Die kaiserlichen Verwaltungsbeamten (1905), pp. 162 if.

building acts, not unlike those of modern See also:

London, were enacted by several of the emperors. These fixed the materials to be used,• thickness of walls, minimum width of streets, maximum height allowed for houses, &c. After the great See also:fire in Nero's reign, A.D. 64, an See also:act was passed requiring the See also:lower storeys of houses to be built with fire-See also:proof materials, such as See also:peperino or burnt brick. Enormous accumulations of statues and pictures enriched See also:Rome during its period of greatest splendour. In the first See also:place, the numerous statues of the republican and even of the See also:regal See also:Ancient period were religiously preserved at a time when, from See also:works of their archaic character, they must have been regarded See also:art, rather as See also:objects of sacred or archaeological See also:interest than as works of art (Plin. H.N. xxxiv. 15 if., See also:xxxv. 19 ff.). Secondly came the large Graeco-Roman class, mostly copies of earlier See also:Greek works, executed in Rome by Greek artists. To this class belongs most of the finest existing See also:sculpture preserved in the Vatican and other museums. Thirdly, countless statues and pictures were stolen from almost every important See also:city in See also:Greece, Magna Graecia, See also:Sicily and western See also:Asia See also:Minor.

These robberies began early, and were carried on for many centuries. The importations included works of art by all the See also:

chief artists from the 5th century downwards. Long lists are given by See also:Pliny (H.N. xxxiii.–See also:xxxvi.), and pedestals exist with the names of See also:Praxiteles, Timarchus, See also:Polyclitus, See also:Bryaxis and others. These accumulated works of sculpture were of all materials—See also:gold and See also:ivory (See also:Suet. Tit. 2), of which seventy-four are mentioned in the See also:catalogue of the Breviarium, many hundreds or even thousands of See also:silver' (Plin. H.N. xxxiii. 151 f.),' while those of gilt bronze and marble must have existed in almost untold See also:numbers (Pans. viii. 46). Nor were the accumulated stores of Greek paintings much inferior in number; not only were easel pictures by Zeuxis, See also:Apelles, See also:Timanthes and other Greek artists taken, but even mural paintings were carefully cut off their walls and brought to Rome secured in wooden frames (Plin. H.N. xxxv. 173, and compare ibid.

154). The roads were made of polygonal blocks of lava (silex), neatly fitted together and laid on a carefully prepared bed, Roads. similar to that used for See also:

mosaic paving (see MOSAIC' and ROADS). Roads thus made were called viae stroke. A See also:good specimen of Roman road-making, in which the blocks were fitted together with the utmost accuracy, is to be seen in a portion of the Clivus Capi- tolinus in' front of the temple of See also:Saturn (see fig. 5, which also shows the massive travertine curb which bordered the road; sometimes the curb was of lava). In 190I the See also:late and badly laid See also:pavement of the Sacra Via on the ascent of. the See also:Velia was removed, and the earlier paving laid See also:bare at a lower level. The See also:original pavement of the Nova Via was ex ,over. posed in 1904. Other well-preserved viae stratae are those leading up to the See also:Palatine from the Summa Sacra Via and that which follows the curved See also:line of shops in See also:Trajan's See also:forum. The following is a See also:list of the chief roads which radiated from Rome:—(1) Via See also:Appia issued from the Servian See also:Porte See also:Capena and the See also:Aurelian P. Appia; from it diverged (2) Via See also:Latina, which issued from the Aurelian P. Latina; (3) Via See also:Labicana and (4) Via See also:Tiburtina issued from the Servian P. Esquilina; from (3) diverged (5) Via See also:Praenestina at the See also:double See also:arch of the Claudian See also:aqueduct, now P.

See also:

Maggiore, while (4) passed through the Aurelian P. Tiburtina; (6) Via See also:Nomentana and (7) Via See also:Salaria issued from the Servian P. Collina and passed respectively through the Aurelian P. Nomentana and. P. Salaria; (8) Via See also:Flaminia issued from the Servian P. Fontinalis, and was called Via Late for the first See also:half-mile or more, 1 Eighty silver statues of Augustus, some equestrian and 'some in quadrigae, are mentioned in the Mon. Anc. 4, 51.then passed through the Aurelian P. Flaminia; (9) Via See also:Aurelia, from the Transtiberine P. Aurelia; (to) Via Portuensis, from the Transtiberine P. Portuensis; (11) Via Ostiensis, from the Servian P.

Trigemina and the Aurelian P. Ostiensis; (12) Via Ardeatina, from the Servian P. Naevia and the Aurelian P. Ardeatina. Remains of Prehistoric Rome. It is evident from See also:

recent discoveries that the site of Rome was inhabited at a very early period.2 See also:Flint implements and remains of the Bronze See also:Age have been found on the Aventine and elsewhere; and from the Early Iron Age onwards we have a continuous archaeological See also:record, owing to the See also:discovery of ancient See also:burial-places. In 1902 a very early See also:necropolis was brought to See also:light at the S.E. corner of the temple of See also:Antoninus and See also:Faustina, some 17 ft. below the level of the Forum. The See also:graves contain either the ashes of cremated bodies placed in a large See also:vessel (dolio), or skeletons buried either in a See also:simple See also:trench (fossa), a. tufa See also:sarcophagus or a See also:tree-See also:trunk. The See also:cremation graves are the earlier, and none are later than the 6th century, while the See also:oldest may be of the 9th; the pottery and other objects placed in the graves belong to the Early Iron Age. It is clear that this See also:cemetery is earlier than the See also:union of the Palatine and Quirinal settlements in one city (see below, p. 759). Other early cemeteries have been discovered on the Quirinal and Esquiline, which were in use from the beginning of the Iron Age down to the beginning of the historic period.

The large necropolis on the Esquiline is cut in two by the Servian " wall, which is evidently of later date. The later tombs contain objects of See also:

Etruscan, Phoenician and Greek manufacture. There is no doubt that the earliest See also:settlement bearing the name of Rome was on the Palatine See also:hill,3 which was both easy of See also:defence and possessed the means of communica- The See also:don with its neighbours in the proximity of the Palatine See also:Tiber. The name See also:Roma is said to mean " See also:river," city• but thnis is uncertain. The Palatine is roughly square in out-line, and the Roman antiquarians sometimes applied the name Roma Quadrata to the earliest settlement; but the See also:tern seems more properly to have applied to a See also:sanctuary connected with the See also:foundation of the city. The ideal boundary of the city was formed by the Pomerium (see See also:Varro, L.L. v. 143; Liv. 1. 44; Dionys. i. 88), whose original course is traced by See also:Tacitus (Ann. xii. 24). It passed along the foot of the hill (per ima montis Palatini), the angle-points being given by the Ara See also:Maxima in the Forum Boarium, the Ara Consi in the See also:Circus See also:Maximus, the Curiae Veteres (near the arch of See also:Constantine) and the Sacellum Larum (at the N. angle).

But this was of course not a defensible site, and the extent of the fortified city can only be determined by the traces of its early walls. These enable us to fix its line along the whole valley of the Velabrum, on the See also:

west of the hill, and along the valley of the Circus Maximus as far as the so-called Paedagogium, about half-way' on the See also:south See also:side. Considerable remains of this fortification exist near the west angle of the hill. These show that the natural strength given by the cliff was increased by artificial means. The wall was set neither at the top nor at the foot of the hill, but more Ancient than half-way up, a level See also:terrace or shelf all See also:round being fortift- cut in the See also:rock on which the See also:base of the wall stood. Above cations." that the hill was cut away into a cliff, not quite perpendicular but slightly " battering " inwards, to give greater stability to the wall, which was built up against it, like a retaining wall, reaching to the top of the cliff, and probably a few feet higher. The stones used in this wall are soft tufa, a warm brown in colour, and full of masses of charred See also:wood. The cutting to form the steep cliff probably supplied part of the material for the wall; and ancient quarries, afterwards used as reservoirs for See also:water, exist in the mass of rock on which the so-called temple of See also:Jupiter See also:Victor stands. It has been asserted that these tufa blocks are not cut but split with wedges; this, however; is not the case. Tufa does not split into rectangular masses, but 2 On the prehistoric remains of Rome and See also:Latium, see Pinza in Monumenti antichi pubblicati per cure della reale Accademia dei Lin,cei, vol. xv., 1905; also See also:Comm. See also:Boni's reports on the necropolis adjoining the Forum in the Notizie degli scavi, and Modestor, Introduction a l'histoire romaine (See also:Paris, 1907). a The " primacy of the Palatine " has been disputed by See also:Carter (Amer.

Jour. Arch., 1908, p. 181), who thinks that the first city was that of the Four Regions (see below) formed by the Etruscan See also:

kings. Li. .. QiI,~IVII1 to au'tl~iidfln i~lhllii1]IT~Iri gym."~i 111 e. a. a. z. ,.o would be shattered to pieces by a See also:wedge; moreover, distinct See also:tool-marks can be seen on all the blocks whose surface is well pre-served and in the quarries themselves. See also:Chisels from one-See also:fourth to three-fourths of an See also:inch in width were used, and also a sharp-pointed pick or See also:hammer. The wall is about to ft. thick at the bottom, and Increases in thickness above as the scarped cliff against which it is built recedes. It is built of blocks laid in alternate courses of headers and stretchers, varying in thickness from 22 to 24 in., in length from 3 to 5 ft. and in width from 19 to 22 in. These blocks are carefully worked on their beds, but the face is See also:left rough, and the See also:vertical joints are in some cases open, spaces of nearly 2 in. being left between See also:block and block; in other cases the vertical joints are worked true and See also:close like the beds. No mortar was used.

At two points on the side of the Velabrum winding passages are excavated in the tufa cliff, the entrance to which was once closed by the ancient wall. One of these in early times (before water in abundance was brought to the Palatine on aqueducts) was used as a See also:

reservoir to collect surface water, probably for use in case of See also:siege; circular shafts for buckets are cut downwards through the rock from the top of the hill. A similar rock-cut cistern with vertical shafts, of very early date, exists at See also:Alba Longa. Opposite the See also:church of S. Teodoro a series of buttresses belonging to the early wall exists, partly concealed by a long line of buildings of the later years of the See also:Republic and the early Empire, to make See also:room for which the greater part of the then useless wall was pulled down, and only fragments left here and there, where they could be worked into the walls of the later houses. The age of the walls here described cannot be determined with certainty, but their resemblance to the remains of the " Servian " wall, especially in the See also:system of " headers and stretchers " and the dimensions of the blocks, makes it certain that they do not differ greatly in date from that work. The chief technical difference lies in the open vertical joints found in some cases; but too much stress should not be laid on this feature. There are, however, at the western angle of the hill some remains of an earlier fortification, constructed with blocks of See also:grey-See also:green tufa, smaller in size than those of the See also:main wall. A few courses have been preserved, owing to the fact that at the angle of the hill this wall was encased first of all by that described above and afterwards by concrete substructures of imperial date. The technique is See also:primitive, as the blocks are of irregular size and are not laid in courses of " headers and stretchers "; the nearest parallel is supplied by the foundations of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. These remains are shown by See also:Delbruck, Der Apollotempel auf dem Marsfelde, pl. iii., cf. p. 13 f Pliny ($.N.

Iii. 66) tells us that the city of See also:

Romulus had three See also:gates (cf. Serv. Ad. Aen. i. 222); and three approaches to the See also:Oates of Palatine city can be traced. One is the so-called Scalae Roma Caci, a long sloping ascent cut through the rock (see Quadrata. fig. 17) from the side of the Circus Maximus; some remains of the early wall still exist along the sides of this steep ascent or See also:staircase. The upper part of this has remains of a See also:basalt pavement, added in later times, probably covering the more ancient rock-cut steps. The name of the See also:gate which led at this point into the Palatine city is unknown. The only two gates whose name and position can be (with any degree of See also:probability) identified are the Porta Romanula and the Porta Mugonia. The former of these is called Porta See also:Romana by See also:Festus (ed.

See also:

Muller, p. 262), who states that it was at the foot of the Clivus Victoriae (see fig. 17) and was so called by the Sabines of the Capitol because it was their natural entrance to Roma Quadrata (see also Varro, L.L. v. 16 (who only mentions the two gates named above), vi. 24). It would thus have been at the foot of the hill in the Velabrum (see below, p 600); but Varro says that it was approached by steps from the K. Via,' which would place it at the N. angle of the Palatine. The stairs connecting the Nova Via with the Clivus Victoriae still exist. Doubtful traces of the Porta Mugonia (see Sol. i. 24) have been discovered where a basalt paved road leads up into the Palatine from the Summa Sacra Via and the Summa Nova Via, which join near the arch of See also:Titus; exposure to See also:weather has now destroyed the soft tufa blocks of which this gate was built. This is probably the " vetus porta Palatii " of See also:Livy (i. 12), through which the Romans fled when defeated by the Sabines.

The Palatine settlement was the See also:

nucleus around which, by a series of expansions, the See also:historical city of Rome See also:grew up. The first step Growth was the amalgamation of Roma Quadrata with the villages Greatly on the neighbouring spurs of the Esquiline and Caelian. Rome. This gave See also:birth to the community of the Seven Hills, whose existence is proved by the survival of the festival known as the Septimontium, celebrated on the 11th of See also:December (Fest. 340; Macrob. i. 16, 6). The seven hills were not those See also:familiar in later nomenclature, but the following:—(1) Palatium and (2) Cermalus, the two summits of the Palatine; (3) Velia, the See also:saddle between the Palatine and Esquiline; (4) See also:Oppius and (5) Cispius, the two westernmost spurs of the Esquiline, together with (6) Fagutal, the extreme See also:crest of the Oppius; (7) Sucusa (confused by later writers with Subura), the eastern See also:spur of the Caelian. Varro (L.L. v. 48) mentions the murus terreus Carinarum, which may have belonged Novalia," See also:MSS. • " Navalia " has been conjectured.to the defences of this community, since the N.W. slope of the Oppius See also:bore the name Carinae ; but there is no proof that the Septimontium was a walled city. The next See also:stage in the development of Rome was marked by the See also:division of the city into four regions, ascribed by tradition to Servius Tullius,' who was said to have formed the four city tribes, corresponding with the regions: (t) Suburana, including the Caelian and the valley between that hill and the Esquiline; (2) Esquilina, the Oppius and Cispius; (3) Collina, the Quirinal and Viminal; (4) Palatina, including the Palatine and Velia. The third region was an addition to the City of the Seven Hills; the new city was, in fact, formed by the union of the old Latin settlement with a See also:Sabine community on the Quirinal.

The Capitol was the citadel, but was not included in the city (hence the phrase urbs et Capitolium). Tradition likewise assigned to Servius Tullius 3 the construction of the great wall which embraced not merely the four regions but a considerably extended See also:

area, including the Aventine. Liae of Excavations have done much to determine the line of the Servtaa Servian wall, especially the great works undertaken in laying wall. out a new See also:quarter of the city on the Quirinal, Esquiline and Viminal, which have laid bare and then mor.1y destroyed long lines of wall, especially along the agger. Beginning from the Tiber, which the Servian wall touched at a point near the present See also:Ponte Rotto, and separating the Forum Holitorium (outside) from the Forum Boarium (inside), it ran in a straight line to the Capitoline hill, the two crests of which, the Capitolium and the Arx, with the intermediate valley the See also:Asylum, were surrounded by an earlier fortification, set (Dionys. ix. 68) furl XO4ioic . sal AErpaIS 6. ror6µots In this space there were two gates, the Porta Flumentana, next the river (see Cie. Ad Att. vii. 3; Liv. xxxv. 19, 21); and the Porta Carmentalis close to the Capitolium.4 From the Capitoline hill the wall passed to the Quirinal along a spur of elevated ground, after-wards completely cut away by Trajan. Close to the Capitol was the Porta Fontinalis, whence issued the Via Lata. Remains of the wall and foundations of the gate exist in Via di Marforio. After passing Trajan's forum, we find remains of the walls on the slope of the Quirinal.

A piece di the wall has been exposed in the new Via Nazionale, and also an archway under the Palazzo See also:

Antonelli, which may represent the Porta Sanqualis (see Festus, ed. Muller, p. 343). The Porta Salutaris (Festus, pp. 326-327) was also on the Quirinal, probably on the slope between the Trevi See also:fountain and the royal See also:palace. Its position is indicated by the existence of some tombs which give the line of the road. On the See also:north-west of the Quirinal was the Porta Quirinalis (Festus, p. 254), probably near the " Quattro See also:Fontane." In the See also:Barberini palace gardens, and especially in those of the See also:Villa Barberini (Horti Sallustiani), extensive remains of the wall have been recently exposed and destroyed,-which was also the See also:fate of that See also:fine piece of wall that passed under the new See also:office of See also:finance, with the Porta Collina, which was not on the line of the present road, but about 50 yds. to the south (see Dionys. ix. 68; See also:Strabo iv. p. 234). Thus far in its course from the Capitol the wall skirted the slopes of hills, which were once much more abrupt than they are now; but from the Porta Collina to the Porta Esquilina it crossed a large See also:tract of level ground; and here its place was taken by the great agger-described below. About the middle of it the Porta Viminalis was found in 1872; it stood, as Strabo (iv. p.

234) says, ,hr zfvtu ref.; XW arc, and from it led a road which passed through the Porta Chiusa (ancient name unknown) in Aurelian's wall. Foundations of the Porta Esquilina were found in 1875 close behind the arch of See also:

Gallienus. The, further course of the wall across the valley of the Colosseum is the least known part of the See also:circuit. Hence the- wall skirts the slopes-of the 'Caelian (where, as is probable, it was pierced by the Porta Caelemontanaand Porta Querquetulana) to the valley along which the Via Appia passed through the Porta Capena, near the church of S. Gregorio. Its line along the Aventine is fairly distinct; and near S. Balbina and in the Vigna Torlonia are two of the best-preserved pieces (see below). There were three gates on the Aventine,—the Porta Naevia on the See also:southern height, P. Raudusculana in the central depression, and P. Lavernalis on the See also:northern See also:summit. Under the Aventine it appears to have touched the river near the existing foundations supposed to be those of the Pons Sublicius. The Porta Trigemina was close by the See also:bank.

Hence to our starting-point the river formed the defence of the city, with its massive See also:

quay wall. The wall is built of blocks of tufa, usually the softer kinds, but varying according to its position, as in most cases the stone used was that quarried on the spot. In restorations a good Iis coadeal of peperino is used. The blocks average from 23 to stroctlon. 24 in. In thickness—roughly 2 Roman feet--and are laid in alternate courses of headers and stretchers. The method of construction varied according to the nature of the ground Varro, L.L. v. 46-54. 3 Livy i. 44; See also:Dion. See also:Hal. iv. 13.

The wall is, however, said to have been planned and partly executed by Tarquinius See also:

Priscus (Liv. i. 36, 38; Dion. Hal. iii. 37) ; and the fortification of the Aventine is ascribed to Ancus See also:Martius (Dion. Hal. iii. 43). 4 See Sol. i. 13; Liv. ii. 49, See also:xxiv. 47, See also:xxv. 7. See also:xxvii. 37; Ascon.

Ad. Cie. in Toga, p. 81. 590 traversed by the fortification. Where the wall followed the face of the cliffs, as for instance on the Capitol and Quirinal, it was raised on an artificial shelf after the See also:

fashion employed on the Palatine (vide supra). In other places, where the slope was gentler, the wall was formed of See also:rubble with revetments of opus quadratum, e.g. on the Aventine; finally, where the ground was See also:flat, as on the See also:plateau of the Esquiline, a ditch was dug and an See also:embankment formed by the upcast; this agger, as it was called, was then faced with retaining walls of opus quadratum. The length of the agger on the Esquiline is put by See also:Dionysius (ix. 68) at 7 stadia, which agrees, roughly speaking, with the discoveries made in 1876-1879, when the railway station was built and the new quarters laid out. The See also:total length was about 4225 ft., the thickness of wall and agger about 5o ft., while the ditch was too Roman ft. in width and 30 in See also:depth. There is, however, a difference in technique between the inner and See also:outer retaining walls of the agger. The inner wall is built of greenish tufa in blocks of irregular size, while in the outer brown tufa is employed and the blocks are of See also:standard size, two headers ranging with each stretcher. Between the railway station and the Dogana a fine lofty piece of the front wall remains, with traces of the Porta Viminalis and of the lower back wall.

Unfortunately the whole of the bank or agger proper has been removed, and the rough back of the great retaining wall exposed. Both tufa and peperino are used, the latter in restored parts; the blocks vary in length, but average in depth the usual 2 Roman ft. The railway cutting, which has destroyed a great part of the agger, showed clearly the section of the whole work: the strata of different kinds of See also:

soil which appeared on the sides of the See also:foss appeared again in the agger, but reversed as they naturally would be in the process of digging out and heaping up. Dionysius (ix. 68) states the length of the agger to have been 7 stadia—that is, about 1400 yds.—which agrees (roughly speaking) with the actual discoveries. Originally one road ran along the bottom of the foss and another along its edge; the latter existed in imperial times. But the whole foss appears to have been filled up, probably in the time of Augustus, and afterwards built upon; houses of mixed brick and opus reticulatum still exist against the outside of the great wall; which was itself use' as the back wall of these houses, so that we now see painted stucco of the time of See also:Hadrian covering parts of the wall of the kings. Another See also:row of houses seems to have faced the road mentioned above as See also:running along the upper edge of the foss, thus forming a long See also:street. As early as the time of Augustus a very large part of the wall of the kings had been pulled down' and built over, so that even then its circuit was difficult to trace (Dionys. iv. 13). A very curious series Masons' of masons' marks exists on stones of the agger wall (as See also:mar". well as on those of some other early buildings). s . They are Mas deeply incised, usually on the ends of the blocks, and average from to to 14 in. in length: some are single letters or monograms; others are numbers, e.g. j , the See also:numeral 50.

Fig. 6 shows the chief forms from the Palatine and Esquiline.' ' There are also extensive remains of the " Servian " wall on the Aventine, in the Via di Porta S. See also:

Paolo. Here the wall has a backing of concrete and the upper portion is built with blocks of peperino, set in are unmistakable signs that the wall has undergone restoration. This portion is pierced by an arch about 91 ft. high, which probably served as an See also:embrasure for a military See also:engine. Finally, where'the wall skirts the bank of the Tiber it is built in two sections—a foundation about 2 metres in height and 3 in width, which forms a landing-stage, and an upper wall, 6 metres high, which retains the bank. It is built of peperino, and is probably later than the See also:rest of the fortification. The age of this wall is uncertain, but it has been rendered exceedingly probable that it belongs to the 4th century B.C. The See also:evidence for this is derived from the comparison of other fortifications in central See also:Italy, from the measurements of the blocks employed, which presuppose the later Roman foot of 296 millimetres, and from the character of the See also:alphabet from which the masons' marks are taken? Livy (vi. 32) speaks of a See also:contract entered into by the censors of 378 B.C. for the construction of a wall of opus quadratum, and this probably refers to the older. portions of the existing wall, which was built owing to the fear of a second Gallic invasion.' i See Bruzza, Ann. Inst.

(1876), 72; See also:

Jordan, Topographie, i. 25o; See also:Richter, Ober antike Steinmetzzeichen (1885). 2 SeeRichter in the work quoted above, and Beitrage zur romischen Topographie (See also:Berlin, 1903); also Delbruck, Der Apollotempel auf dem Marsfelde in Rom, pp. 14 ff. ' For earlier studies of the Servian wall consult Nibby and See also:Gell, Le[PREHISTORIC REMAINS The Servian city did not include what is now the most crowded part of Rome, and which under the Empire was the most architecturally magnificent, namely, the Campus Martins, which was probably to a great extent a See also:marsh, It was once called Ager Tarquiniorum, but after the See also:expulsion of the Tarquins was named Campus Martius from an See also:altar to See also:Mars, dating from prehistoric times (Liv. Ii. 5). Of that wonderful system of massive arched sewers by which, as Dionysius (iii. 68) says, every street of Rome was drained into the Tiber, considerable remains exist, especially of the cloacae. See also:Cloaca Maxima, which runs from the valley of the Subura, under the Forum along the Velabrum, and so into the Tiber by the round temple in the Forum Boarium; it is still in use, and well preserved at most places. Its mouth, an archway in the great quay wall nearly 11 ft. wide by 12 high, consists of three rings of peperino " voussoirs," most neatly fitted. The rest of the vault and walls is built of mixed tufa and peperino.5 Pliny (H.N, xxxvi.

104) gives an interesting See also:

account of what is probably this great See also:sewer, big enough (he says) for a loaded, See also:hay-See also:cart to pass along. The mouths of two other similar but smaller cloacae are still visible in the great quay wall near the Cloaca Maxima, and a whole network of sewers exists under a great part of the Servian city. Some of these are not built with arched vaults, but have triangular tops formed of courses of stone on level beds, each projecting over the one below—a primitive method of construction, employed in the Tullianum The great quay wall of tufa and peperino which lined the Tiber at the mouth Great of the Cloaca Maxima is also of early date. In later wall times this massive wall was extended, as the city grew, Quay all along the bank of the Campus Martius, and, having lost its importance as a line of defence, had frequent flights of stairs built against it, descending to the river. Some of these are shown in one of the fragments of the marble See also:plan (see Jordan, F. U.R. Frag. 169). In 1879 a travertine block was dredged up inscribed P. BARRONIVS . BARBA . See also:AED .

See also:

CVR . GRADOS . REFECIT, dating from the 1st century B.C. This records the repair of one of these river stairs a The Tullianum is the earliest of the existing buildings of Rome. Imprisonment as a See also:punishment was unknown to Roman See also:law, and hence the Carcer, where criminals were detained Tuilipending trial, was of small dimensions. Its remains are pre- aauar and served beneath the church of S Giuseppe dei Falegnami, and below them is the Tullianum, a See also:dungeon where executions Carter' took place. It is partly cut in the tufa rock of the Capitoline hill and partly built of 2-ft. blocks of tufa,. set with thin beds of pure lime mortar, in courses projecting one over the other. Its name is derived, not from Servius Tullius, as Varro (v. 151) asserts, but from an early Latin word, tullus, a See also:spring of water; its original use was probably that of a cistern or well. It was closed by a conical vault, arched in shape, but not constructionally an arch—very like the so-called " See also:treasury of See also:Atreus " at See also:Mycenae, and many early Etruscan tombs. When the upper room with its arched vault, also of tufa, was built the upper part of the See also:cone seems to have been removed, and a flat stone See also:floor '(a flat arch in construction) substituted? That its use as a cistern' was abandoned is shown by the cloaca which leads from it, through the rock, to a See also:branch of the Cloaca Maxima.

This horrible place was used as a dungeon, prisoners being lowered through a hole in the stone floor—the only See also:

access. The present stairs are modern. The two See also:chambers are vividly described by See also:Sallust (See also:Cat. 55). The entrance to the upper See also:prison was on the left of the stairs leading up from the Forum to the Clivus Argentarius, the road to the Porta Fontinalis (see fig. 7, See also:General Plan of Ancient Rome). See also:Lentulus and the See also:Catiline conspirators, as well as Jugurtha, Vercingetorix and other prisoners of importance, were killed or starved to See also:death in this fearful dungeon, which is called ro i5apaOpov by See also:Plutarch (See also:Marius, xii.). According to a doubtful tradition of the See also:Catholic Church, St See also:Peter was imprisoned in the Tullianum. The name Mamertine prison is of See also:medieval origin. The front wall of the prison was restored in the reign of Tiberius A.D. 22, and bears this inscription on a projecting stringcourse—C . VIBIVS .

C . F . RVFINVS . M . COCCEIV[S . M . F . See also:

NERVA]See also:COS . EX . S. C.8 The floor of the upper prison is about I6 ft. above the level of the Forum. The Capitol was approached from the Carcer by a See also:flight of steps—Scalae Gemoniae—on which Mura di Roma 082o); Piale, Porte del Recinto di Servio (1833) ; See also:Becker, De Romae Muris (See also:Leipzig, 1842) ; Lanciani, Ann.

Inst. (1871), p. 40, Mon. Inst. ix. pl. xxvii.; Borsari, " Le mura e porte di Set-trio," See also:

Bull. Comm. Arch. (1888), pp. 12 if. ' See Liv. i. 38, 56; Dionys. iv. 44. 5 In the upper part of its course the Cloaca Maxima was restored in some places, under the Empire, with a vault of brick-faced concrete; at the entrance to the Forum a large See also:bend was made when the See also:Basilica Aemilia was extended westwards in 34 B.C.

e A great quay wall with arched cloaca, similar in See also:

style to those in Rome, exists at the mouth of the river Marta near See also:Tarquinii, and similar constructions are found in other Etruscan cities. Livy (i. 33) mentions the " carter . See also:media urbe imminens fort)," and also speaks (xxxiv. 44) of an " inferiorem carcerem," and at See also:xxix. 22 of a criminal being put in the Tullianum. 8 Consules suffecti for A.D. 22. OW 'THE 6 ' PALATINE Z \1/ rHx ER WAIL. \See also:Ali VI-See also:INK .N + ,See also:aar r the bodies of criminals were exposed;' Pliny (H.N. viii. 145) calls it the stairs of sighs " (See also:gradus gemitorii). Forum Romanum and Adjacent Buildings. The Forum Romanum or Magnum, as it was called in late times to distinguish it from the imperial fora, occupies a valley which extends from the foot of the Capitoline hill to the north-west part of the Palatine.

Till the construction of the great cloacae it was, at least in wet seasons, marshy ground, in which were several pools of water. In early times it- was bounded on two sides by rows of shops and houses, dating from the time of the first Tarquin (Liv. 35). The shops on the south-west side facing the Sacra Via, where the Basilica Julia, afterwards was built, were occupied by the Tabernae Veteres.2 The shops on the northern side, being occupied by silversmiths, were called Tabernae Argentariae, and in later times, when rebuilt after a fire, were called Tabernae Novae (see Liv. See also:

xxvi. 27, xl. 51).3 An altar to Saturn (Dionys. i. 34, vi. 1), traditionally set up by the companions of See also:Hercules, and an altar to See also:Vulcan, both at the end towards the Capitol, with the temple of See also:Vesta and the Regia at the opposite end, were among the earliest monuments grouped around the Forum. The Lacus See also:Curtius vanished, as Varro says (L.L. v. 148-49), probably with other stagnant pools, when the cloacae were constructed (Liv. 38, 56).' Another See also:pool, the Lacus Servilius, near the Basilica Julia, was preserved in some form or other till the imperial period. Under See also:Sulla it was used as a place to expose the heads of many senators murdered in his proscriptions (Cic.

Rosc. Am. 32, 89; See also:

Seneca, De Prov. 3, 7). The Volcanal was an open area, so called from the early altar to Vulcan, and was (like the Comitium) a place of public See also:meeting, at least during the regal period.' It was raised above the Comitium, and was a space levelled on the lower slope of the Capitoline hill behind the arch of Severus; the foundations of the altar were discovered in 1898. It was probably much encroached upon when the temple of Concord was enlarged in the reign of Augustus. Fig. 8 gives a carefully measured plan of the Forum, showing the most recent discoveries. Unlike the fora of the emperors, _each of which was surrounded by a lofty wall and built at one time from one See also:design, the architectural form of the Forum Romanum was a slow growth. The marshy battlefield of the early inhabitants of the Capitol and Palatine became, when the ground was drained by the great cloacae, under a See also:united See also:rule the most convenient site for See also:political meetings, for commercial transactions, and for the pageants of See also:rich men's funerals, ludi scenici, and gladiatorial See also:games .° For these purposes a central space, though but a small one, was kept clear of buildings; but it was gradually occupied in a somewhat inconvenient manner by an ever-accumulating See also:crowd of statues and other honorary monuments. On three sides the limits of this open space are marked by paved roads, faced by the stately buildings which gradually took the place of the simple wooden tabernae and porticus of early times. The Comitium 7 was a level space in front of the See also:Curia; the construction of both is ascribed to Tullus Hostilius.

For the position of the Comitium and the Curiae see plan of Forum (fig. 8). Varro (L.L. V. 155-56) gives the following account of the buildings which were grouped along the northern angle of the Forum: " Comitium ab eo quod coibant eo comitiis curiatis et litium causa. Curiae duorum generum, nam et ubi curarent sacerdotes res 1 See Tac. Hist. iii. 74, 85; Suet. See also:

Fit. 17. 2 See Livy (xliv. 16), who mentions a house of P.

See also:

Africanus, " pone veteres ad Vortumni signum," which was bought by T. Sempronius to clear the site for the Basilica Sempronia in 169 B.C. This basilica was afterwards absorbed in the Basilica Julia. Hence these two sides of the Forum are frequently referred to in classical writings as " sub veteribus " and " sub novis." In later times it was an enclosed space containing an altar; it is described by See also:Ovid (Fast. vi. 403) ; according to one tradition it marked the spot where Curtius's self-immolation filled up the chasm which had opened in the Forum (see Dionys. ii. 41). (See below.) ' See Dionys. ii. 5o, vi. 67; Plin. H.N. xvi. 236; Plut. Quaes.

Rom. 47. 6 The first gladiatorial show in Rome was given in 264 B.C. in the Forum Boarium by D. See also:

Junius See also:Brutus at his See also:father's funeral (Liv. Epit. xvi.), the first in the Forum Romanum in 216 B.C. (Liv. See also:xxiii. 3o). See also Liv. xxxi. 5o, xli. 28; and Suet. Caes. 39; Aug.

43; and Tib. 7. On the Comitium see Detlefsen, Ann. Inst. (186o), pp. 128 if., and the works mentioned below, See also:

note 11. e Livy (xlv. 24) indicates their 'relative positions by the phrase comitium vestibulum Curiae." divinas, ut Curiae Veteres, et ubi senatus humanas, ut Curia Hostilia, quod primum aedificavit Hostilius rex. Ante hanc Rostra; quojus loci id vocabulum, quod ex hostibus capta fixa stintrostra. Sub dextra hujus a Comitio See also:locus substructus, ubi nationum subsisterent legati qui ad senatum essent missi. Is Graecostasis appellatus a parte ut multa. Senaculum supra Graecostasim, ubi See also:Aedis Concordiae et Basilica Opimia.

Senaculum vocatum, ubi senatus, See also:

aut ubi seniores consisterent." The curia or See also:senate-house passed through many vicissitudes' At first called Curia Hostilia, from its founder Tullus Hostilius (Liv. i. 3o), it lasted till 52 B.C., when it was burnt at the Curia. funeral of See also:Clodius, and was then rebuilt by Faustus Sulla, and from his gens called Curia See also:Cornelia (Dio See also:Cass. xl. 5o). It was again rebuilt by See also:Julius See also:Caesar, and dedicated by Augustus (29 B.C.,j under the name of the Curia Julia, as recorded in the inscription of See also:Ancyra (q.v.)—CVRIAM . ET. CONTINENS . El. CHALCIDICVM . FEC!. Little is known about the adjoining buildings called the See also:Athenaeum and See also:Chalcidicum; Dion See also:Cassius (Ii. 22) mentions the See also:group. In the reign of See also:Domitian the Curia Julia was restored (Prosp.

Aquit. p. 571), and it was finally rebuilt by See also:

Diocletian. The existing church of S.,Adriano is the Curia of Diocletian, though of course much altered, and with its floor raised about it) ft. above the old level. The level of the entrance was raised in the middle ages, and again in 1654. Sixteenth-century drawings and engravings show the lower level. The ancient bronze doors now at the end of the See also:nave of the Lateran basilica originally belonged to this building, and were removed thence by See also:Alexander VII. The brick See also:cornice and marble consoles, covered with enriched See also:mouldings in stucco, and the sham marble facing, also of stucco, if compared with similar details in the See also:baths of Diocletian, leave no doubt as to this being a work of his time, and not, as was at one time assumed, the work of See also:Pope See also:Honorius I. (A.D. 625–38) who consecrated it as the church of S. Adriano. From the Curia a flight of steps led down to the Comitium (Liv. 36), a space consecrated as a templum according to the rules of augury (Cic.

De Or. iii. 3) and used for the meetings of the See also:

Comitia Comi- Guriata, and for certain religious ceremonies performed, See also:alum. after the fall of the See also:monarchy, by the rex sacrificulus. It contained ancient monuments, See also:relics, such as the ficus ruminalis, and the supposed See also:tomb of Romulus, whose site was marked inlatertimes by a " See also:black stone " (lapis See also:niger). Facing the Curia stood the See also:platform from which speakers addressed the See also:people, adorned in 338 B.C. With the beaks of the See also:ships captured from the Latins at the See also:naval victory of See also:Antium and hence called the rostra. Caesar determined to remove the rostra from the Comitium to the Forum, and this plan was carried out after his See also:murder. From the original rostra See also:Cicero delivered his Second and Third Catiline Orations, and they Original were the See also:scene of some of the most important political rostra. struggles of Rome, such as the enunciation of their See also:laws by the Gracchi. Beside the Comitium another See also:monument was erected, also adorned with beaks of ships, to commemorate the same victory at Antium. This was the Columns Maeniana, so called in See also:honour of See also:Maenius (Plin. H.N. xxxiv. 20, vii. 212).

The Columna Duilia was a similar monument, erected in honour of the victory of C. See also:

Duilius over the Punic See also:fleet in 260 B.C.; a fragment of it with inscription (restored in imperial times) is preserved in the .Capitoline Museum." Columns such as these were called columnae rostratae. In 1899–1900 the site of the Comitium—which was considerably reduced in extent by the building of the later Curia—was excavated by Commendatore Boni, in some parts as far as the virgin soil " Remains of walls and pavements of various periods (some very early) were discovered; some of the walls, there is no doubt, supported the platform of the early rostra, which appears to have been at first rectangular and at a later time curved. Opposite to the Curia is a square paved with black marble slabs, which it is natural to identify with the lapis niger of tradition. Beneath this pavement was found a group of early monuments, which were at some time destroyed and afterwards covered over. We are told on the authority of Varro that Romulus was buried in front of (or behind) the rostra, and that two lions were sculptured as guardians of his tomb; and we find in fact a foundation (D, fig. 9) from which project two moulded bases of tufa (A, B) on which the lions may well have stood, on either side of a block (C) which might serve as an altar. Beside this tomb (if such it be) stood the trunk of a tufa See also:column (E) and a rectangular See also:stele (F) which bears on all its faces an inscription written alternately upwards and downwards, so that only the ends of the lines can be read. That it is the earliest specimen of the Latin See also:language is undoubted; and it certainly mentions the rex. But after the expulsion of .the kings the rex 9 On the Curia and its vicissitudes see Lanciani, L'Aula e gli Uffici del Senato Romano (1883). "The column itself is a copy made by See also:Michelangelo; it is at the foot of the stairs of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. "The discoveries of Comm.

Boni have given rise to much discussion. Of the numerous articles, &c., which have appeared it will suffice to name Petersen, Comitium, Rostra, Grab See also:

des Romulus (1904), and Pinza, Il Ccmiaio romano nell' eld repubblicana (1905) ; see Huelsen, The Roman Forum. pp. 110 if. .Wfy ik., K., Flc. 8.-The Roman Forum sacrificulus performed his functions in the Comitium, and the inscription may refer to him. This may be the stele to which Dionysius of See also:Halicarnassus refers as marking the tomb of Hostus Hostilius (father of Tullus Hostilius) whose site (according to those who believed in the See also:translation of Romulus to See also:heaven) was marked t.y the lapis niger. C. Base of altar (?). D. Rectangular foundation. E. Truncated column.

F. Stele with inscription. G. Steps leading to platform of rostra. The dotted line shows the position of the lapis niger. The Senaculum appears to have been a place of preliminary meeting for the senate before entering the Curia (Liv. xli. 27; Seams_ Val. Max. ii. 2, 6); it adjoined the temple of Concord, w/um. and when this was rebuilt on an enlarged See also:

scale in the reign of Augustus it appears probable that its large projecting See also:portico became the Senaculum. A great part of the north-See also:east side of the Forum was occupied by two basilicas, which were more than once rebuilt under different names. The first of these appears to have been adjacent Basilicas to the Curia, on its west side; it was called the Basilica in Forum: Porcia, and was founded by the See also:elder See also:Cato in 185 B.C. (see Liv. xxxix.

44, and Plut. Cato See also:

Major, 19) ; it was burnt with the Curia at Clodius's funeral. On the north side of the Forum another basilica, called Aemilia et Fulvia (Varro vi. 4), was built in 179 B.C. by the censors M. Fulvius and M. See also:Aemilius See also:Lepidus;' it stood, according to Livy (xl. 51), " See also:post argentarias novas;" the line of silversmiths' shops along the north-east side of the Forum. In 50 B.C. it was rebuilt by L. Aemilius See also:Paulus with Caesar's See also:money (Plut. Cores. 29; See also:Appian, See also:Bell. Civ. ii.

26), and was-more than once restored within the few subsequent years by members of the same See also:

family. Its later name was the Basilica See also:Pauli, and it was remark• able for its magnificent columns of Phrygian marble (Plin. H.N. xxxvi. 102) or pavonazzetto. Part of the western end was still See also:standing in the 16th century, and was See also:drawn by Giuliano da See also:Sangallo (Huelsen, The Roman Forum, fig. 61). Recent excavations have shown that it was approached from the Forum by a flight of steps leading to a two-storeyed See also:colonnade. Behind this was a row of tabernae in the middle of which was the entrance to the main See also:hall, consisting in a nave and three aisles (two on the north side). Near the middle of the north-east side of the Forum stood also the small bronze temple of See also:Janus,' the doors of which were shut on those rare occasions when Rome was at See also:peace.' A Temple first See also:brass of Nero shows it as a small cella, with richly otJa us. ornamented See also:frieze and cornice. 'Another See also:aedicula near that of Janus was the See also:shrine of See also:Venus Cloacina (or the Purifier), on the line of the cloaca which runs under the Basilica Aemilia; ' The Forum Piscatorium or See also:fish-See also:market appears to have been at the back of this basilica (see Liv. xl. 51). ' The original temple was one of the prehistoric buildings attributed to Romulus and Tatius (Serv.

Ad Aen. i. 291), or by Livy (i. 19) to Numa. 'See Mon. See also:

Ant. 2, 42; Procop. Bell. Goth. i. 25; Liv. i. 19: Suet. Aug. 22.

D and the Sacra Via. its foundations and plinth were brought to light in 1899 (Liv. iii. 48; Plin. H.N. xv. 119). Fig. 8 shows plan of the rostra as they existed under the Empire. We see an oblong platform about 78 ft. long and 11 ft. high above Batwing the level of the Forum; its ground floor, paved with B See also:

herring-See also:bone bricks, is 2 ft. 6 in. below the Forum paving. 'stra. Its end and side walls are of tufa blocks, 2 ft. thick and 2 ft. wide, each carefully clarhped to the next with wooden dovetail dowels. Its floor was supported by a series of travertine piers, carrying travertine lintels, on which the floor slabs rested.

Outside it was completely lined with Greek marble and had a richly moulded plinth and cornice; the front wall was restored in 1904, and the fragments of the cornice replaced. A groove cut in the top of the cornice shows the place where marble See also:

cancelli were fixed; one of the cornice blocks is partly without this groove, showing that the See also:screen did not extend along the whole front of the rostra. This agrees with a See also:relief on the arch of Constantine, representing the emperor making an oration from the rostra, with other buildings at this end of the Forum shown behind. In this relief the screen is shown with a.break in the middle, so that the orator; standing in the centre; was visible from See also:head to foot. Two tiers of large holes to hold the bronze rostra are drilled right through the tufa wall, and even through the travertine pilasters where one happens to come in the way; these holes show that there were nineteen rostra in the lower tier, and twenty above set over the intermediate spacea of the lower row. The back wall of the rostra is of concrete faced with brick. The inside space, under the main floor of the rostra, is coated thickly with stucco—the brick wall being studded in the usual way with iron nails to form a key for the See also:plaster. Immediately behind the rostra is a curved platform approached by steps from the side facing the Capitol. It has been much disputed Curved whether this platform is earlier or later than the rostra; but Platform. the evidence of the construction at the point of juncture seems to show that the See also:hemicycle is the earlier. When the arch of Severus was built, part of the platform of the rostra was cut away and a See also:court of irregular shape was thus formed, from which the rostra was approached by steps. The front wall of the hemicycle was now exposed in its eastern half; this was faced with slabs of porta See also:santa marble, pilasters of africano, and a mouldedplinth of See also:white marble, whose blocks See also:bear the Greek characters T, A, E, Z, H, 0, K; the omissions make it clear that the blocks were removed from some other building. A number of holes in the marble, some of which contain fragments of metal pins, show that bronze ornaments were at one time attached to the facing.

The hemicycle has been identified (without sufficient reason) with the Graecostasis, a platform near the rostra reserved for See also:

foreign embassies (Varro, L.L. v. 155; Cie. Q.F. ii. I), which continued to exist throughout the imperial period and was restored by Antoninps See also:Pius (Vita 9, 2). It is, however, far more likely that it represents the original form of the rostra as removed to the Forum according to Caesar's design.' When the oblong platform was built (perhaps by Trajan) it was approached from the back by the hemicycle. The bronze rostra on the imperial structure were believed to be the original beaks from Antium, moved from the old rostra (See also:Florus, f. i I). On its marble platform stood many statues,2 e.g. of Sulla, See also:Pompey, two of Julius Caesar, and others (Dio Cass. xlii. 18 and xliv. 4); these are represented on a bas-relief from the arch of Constantine. It is futther commonly believed that the marble glutei which now stand in the centre of the Forum once decorated the rostra: Owing probably to the See also:weight of the many statues proving too much for the travertine piers, which are not set on their natural beds but endways, and therefore are very weak, the structure seems to have given way at more than one time, and the floor has been supportedby piers and arches of brick-faced concrete, ' See Mau in Rom. Mitt. 1906, pp.

230 if. 2 The original rostra had specially honorary statues to those Roman ambassadors who had been 'killed while on foreign service (Liv. iv. 17) ; these were probably removed during Cicero 's lifetime (Cie. Phil. ix. 2, 4; see also Dio Cass. xliii. 49; and Plin. H.N. xxxiv. 23, 24). Ghastly ornaments fixed to these rostra in the See also:

year 43 B.C., shortly after they were built, were the head and hands of the murdered Cicero (Appian, Bell. Civ. iv. 2o; Dio Cass. xlvii. 8; Juv. x.

120), as on the original rostra had been fixed many heads of the chief victims of the proscriptions of Marius and Sulla (see Appian, Bell. Civ. i. 71, 94; Florus in. 21). The denarius of the gees Lollia with the See also:

legend PALIKANVS represents the rostra of the late republican period. inserted either in place of or at the sides of the shattered piers. These later additions, apparently of the 3rd and 4th centuries, are omitted in fig. 8 for the sake of clearness. In or about A.D. 470 the See also:facade of the rostra was prolonged northwards by an addition in very poor brickwork, apparently to celebrate a naval victory over the See also:Vandals. At the northern end of the curved platform there is a cylindrical structure of concrete faced with brick and lined with thin marble UmDi7J- slabs; it is in three stages, each diminishing in size, and See also:sus and appears to be an addition of about the time of Severus. Ms an This is usually identified with the Umbilicus Romae, or him. central point of the city, mentioned in the Notitia and the See also:Einsiedeln MS.

(Jordan, Topographie der Stadt Rom, ii.655). Near the rostra, below the temple of Saturn, stood the Milliarium Aureum, a marble column sheathed in gilt bronze and inscribed with the names and distances of the chief towns on the roads which radiated from the See also:

thirty=seven gates of Rome (Plin. H.N. iii. 66). It was set up by Augustus in 20 B.C., and its position " sub aede Saturni " is indicated by Tacitus (Hist. i. 27; see schol. on Suet. See also:Otho. 6, and Plut. See also:Galba, 24). The Miliarium is mentioned in the Notitia (Reg. viii.) as being near the Vicus Jugarius. Its precise position cannot be determined. Fragments of a marble See also:cylinder and cornice with floriated reliefs, now lying in front of the temple of Saturn, probably belonged to this monument; they were found in 1835 near the supposed site.

The position of the temple of Saturn is indicated in Mon. Anc. (see below, n. 6) and shown on the marble plan, and is also identified Temple of by various passages in ancient writers. Varro (L.L. v. 42) Saturn, speaks of it as being in faucibus Capitolii ; Servius (Ad Aen. ii. 115) says that it is in front of the Clivus Capitolinus, and near the temple of Concord (see See also:

Plate VIII.). It was built against. a steep slope or outlying part of the Capitoline hill' (cf. Dionys. i. 34) on the site of a prehistoric altar to Saturn, after whom the Capitoline hill was originally called See also:Mons Saturnius. The public treasury was part of this temple (Serv.

Ad Aen. ii. 116, and Macrob. Sat. i. 8). The original temple is said by Varro (ap. Macrob. i. 8) to have been begun by the last Tarquin, and dedicated by T. See also:

Larcius, the first See also:dictator, 498 B.c.; but Dionysius (vi. I) and Livy (ii. 21) attribute it to the consuls A. Sempronius and M. Minucius in 497 B.C.

It was rebuilt on a larger scale by L. Munatius Plancus in 42 B.C. (Suet. Aug. 29). The only part remaining of this date is the very lofty See also:

podium of massive travertine blocks, and part of the lower course of Athenian marble, with which the whole was faced. In the 16th century a piece of the marble frieze was found, inscribed L . PLANCVS . L . F . CO3 IMPER . ITER .

DE . MANIB . (C.I.L. vi. 1316). The erection of the six See also:

granite columns in the front and two at the sides, with _their clumsily patched See also:entablature, bearing the inscription SENATVS . POPVLVSQVE . ROMANVS . INCENDIO. CONSVMTVM . RESTITVIT, belongs to the last rebuilding in the time of Diocletian. Some of these fine columns are evidently earlier than this rebuilding, but were refixed with See also:rude caps and bases.

One of the columns is set wrong way up, and the whole work is of the most careless sort. Part of the inscription, once inlaid with bronze, recording this latest rebuilding, still exists on the entablature. On the Forum side the temple is flanked by the Vicus Jugarius, while the steep Clivus Capitolinus winds round the front of the great flight of steps leading up to the cella, and then turns along the north-west side of the temple.' The woos Vicus Jugarius (see fig. 8), part of the basalt paving of /ugarius. which is now exposed, was so called (see Festus, ed. Muller, p. 104) from an altar to See also:

Juno Juga, the See also:guardian of See also:marriage. Starting from the Forum, it passed between the temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia, then close under the cliff of the Capitolium (see Liv. xxxv. 21) and on to the Porta Carmentalis. It was spanned at its commencement by a brick-faced arch lined with marble, the lower part of which exists, and is not earlier than the 3rd or 4th century.' At this end of the Forum the arch of Tiberius was built beside the Sacra Via. It was erected in A. D. 17, to commemorate the recovery of the See also:standards lost by Varus.4 The concrete foundation has recently been exposed.

The Basilica Julia' occupies a great part of the south-west side Basilica of the Forum, along the line of the Sacra Via; its ends Julia. are bounded by the Vicus Jugarius and the Vicus Tuscus. It was begun by Julius Caesar, who dedicated it -vhen still unfinished, on the 26th of See also:

September 46 B.C., completed ' Below the temple of Saturn the Clivus Capitolinus is carried on an arched substructure of somewhat irregular opus reliculalum. This has been described (but without much probability) as the rostra of Caesar. ' A portion of these streets with part of the temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia is shown on fragments of the marble plan (see Plate VIII.). ' One side of this gate was built against one of the marble piers of the Basilica Julia, a perfect See also:print of which still exists in the concrete of the gate, though the marble See also:pier itself has disappeared. The other side of the gate abutted against the marble-lined podium of the temple of Saturn. ' See Tac. Ann. ii. 41, who says it was See also:pro pter aedem Saturni. 'See Suet. Aug. 29; See also:Gerhard, Bas.

Giulia, &c. (1823); and See also:

Visconti, Escavazione della Bas. Giulia (1872).by Augustus, and again rebuilt by him after a fire, as is recorded in Mon. Anc. 4, 13 a in an important passage which gives its See also:complete early See also:history. It consisted of a central hall with aisles, galleries and See also:clerestory, surrounded on three sides by a colonnade in two storeys approached by steps; on the S.W. a row of rooms or tabernae took the place of the colonnade. The central nave was paved with richly coloured See also:oriental See also:marbles, namely pavonazzetto, cipollino, giallo and africano. The covered aisles are paved with large slabs of white marble? Many tabulae lusoriae, or gambling boards, are scratched on this marble paving (cf. Cic. Phil. ii. 23).8 See also:Low marble cancelli, with moulded plinth, closed the otherwise open arches of the basilica; many fragments exist, and one piece of the subplinth is still in situ.

This basilica held four law-courts, which in important cases held See also:

joint sessions. Trajan and other emperors held law-courts there (Dio Cass. lxxxviii. Io). An inscription found near it (C.I.L. vi. 1658) records its restoration by Septimius Severus in A.D. 199, after a fire; it was again burnt in 283 and restored by Diocletian. These fires had destroyed nearly all the fine marble arches of Augustus; and Diocletian rebuilt it mostly with brick or travertine piers, portions of which remain? A final restoration is recorded in See also:inscriptions discovered at various times from the 16th century onwards, as being carried out by See also:Gabinius Vettius Probianus, See also:praefect of the city in 377; one of these is on a See also:pedestal which now stands in the Vicus Jugarius. Suetenius (Cal. 37) mentions that it was one of Caligula's amusements to throw money to the people below from the roof of this basilica, which formed a See also:link in the See also:bridge by which this maniac connected the Palatine with the Capitolium. The Vicus Tuscus passes from the Sacra Via between the Basilica Julia and the temple of See also:Castor to the Velabrum and Circus Maxi- See also:mus; its basalt paving has been exposed at many points ylcus along its whole line.

End of Article: SECTION OF

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SECTION IN CENTRAL 		[next]
SECTION OF SHIP AT ORDINARY

Site © 2006 - Net Industries