PART II
This is it for the Aurelian walls. Obviously,
we will see them again, same as their gates, but for now let’s go forward.
Just in front of the Porta San Paolo, there is
the Pyramid of Cestius. It was built about 18–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius
Cestius, the son of Lucius, of the tribe of Pobilia. The inscription
on it mentions that Cestius was a praetor, a tribune of the plebs, and a
septemvir of the Epulones.
During the construction of the Aurelian Walls
between 271 and 275, the pyramid was incorporated into the walls to form a
triangular bastion.
Not so far from this place there is a train station,
built by Benito Mussolini.
Aventine Hill
Returning back, we decided to visit the Aventine
Hill. One of the 7 hills that originally created the city of Rome.
Along the north-western slopes of the Aventine,
the remains of large tracts of ancient walls pertaining to residential
structures are visible. Perhaps connected to the nearby infrastructures of the
ancient river port.
In 1950ss of 20th century,
during excavation works, numerous remains of brick and stripe walls were found,
belonging to covered vaulted rooms, frescoed with type paintings geometric and
partly paved with black and white mosaic. These are probably the remains of
multi-storey houses (insulae) dating back to various eras starting from
the republican age up to the whole imperial age.
Other remains of walls and mosaics had already been
found previously in 1914, a few meters below the building annexed to the church
of S. Alessio, the current seat of the Institute of Roman Studies. It,
in fact, stands directly on ancient buildings, partially investigated in 1941
and only partially visible in the cellars, which are closely connected to the
structures described along the slopes.
Up on the hill, close to the Basilica of Saint
Sabina, enjoying magnificent views and relaxing in shadow of a park.
Saint Sabina was built by Peter of Illyria, a Dalmatian priest,
between 422 and 432 A.D. near a temple of Juno Regina (Latin: templum
or aedes Iuno Regina) on the Aventine Hill.
Circus Maximus
Walking through a municipal rose garden, we came to
the Circus Maximus.
The Circus Maximus is the largest building for
public entertainment in antiquity and one of the largest of all time (600
metres long by 140 metres wide) and could host up to 300,000 visitors.
At the time of the Tarquini kings, the Valle
Murcia, the wide valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills,
was used as a place for chariot races, but only under Julius Caesar
a real walled circus was built.
The races, held in the Circus, were the most popular
competitive activities for the Roman people, as well as the gladiatorial games.
The chariot drivers soon became idolized by the Roman people, and since the
chariots belonged to different racing teams distinguished by different colours
(green, blue, red, white), the spectators too were divided up on the circus
steps according to the colour of their beloved riders. The large area of the
bottom of the valley also served as a stage for events related to the
political, social and religious life of the city, such as triumphal
celebrations, procession ceremonies and public executions.
Damaged several times by fire, the Circus Maximus
was almost completely rebuilt under the Principate of Trajan, and most
of the structures visible today were built during his reign. Numerous works were carried out by later
emperors, including the spectacular erection of the gigantic obelisk, now in
the Lateran Hill, brought to Rome by Constant II in 357 AD.
The Circus was exploited until the first decades of the 6th century. Later it was used as an agricultural area, and then, from the 19th century onwards, it became the site of the gasometer plants, warehouses, manufactures, craft businesses and dwellings, until the beginning of the 20th century, when works began to create the archaeological park.
Forum Boarium
If you turn left, so soon after you’ll reach the mysterious Mouth of Truth - a marble mask, which stands against the left wall of the portico of the Saint Mary in Cosmedin church, the site of the ancient Forum Boarium (the ancient cattle market). According to enduring medieval legend, it will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth, or, alternatively, any who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth.
On the same place, Piazza della Bocca della Verità,
crossing the road from the church, there are several temples and a fountain.
The Temple of Hercules or Hercules Olivarius
(dating from the later 2nd century BC) is the only surviving sacred
structure in ancient Rome that was made of Greek marble. Located in the Forum
Boarium on the eastern bank of the Tiber, it is one of the oldest extant
buildings in the city and is thought to be the work of the Greek architect Hermodoros
of Salamina.
The Temple of Portunus was originally built in
the 3rd or 4th century BC, but was rebuilt between 120–80
BC. It is also one of the best preserved of all Roman temples. Its
dedication remains unclear, as ancient sources mention several temples in this
area of Rome, without saying enough to make it clear which this is. It was
called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis ("manly fortune") from
the Renaissance, and remains better known by this name. If dedicated to Portunus,
the god of keys, doors and livestock, and so granaries, it is the main temple
dedicated to the god in the city.
This the place is worth to visit and discover ancient
ruins as they were stood up to modern days.
Let’s start from the Ghettarello. A Jewish
Ghetto in Rome.
There you can see an archaeological excavation, opened
in 1999 and abandoned to itself due to lack of funds. It is what remains of a
small area, formerly located outside the Ghetto and therefore called the
Ghettarello.
This place was established on 12 July 1555 by Pope
Paul IV Carafa, who revoked all the rights granted to Roman Jews by
ordering their imprisonment in what was called the "menagerie of the
Jews", obtained in an unhealthy area, prone to flooding.
San Nicola in Carcere is the first church on the site. It was probably
built in the 6th century.
It was constructed in and from the ruins of the Forum
Holitorium and its Roman temples, along with a jail (carcer) which a
tradition (supported by Pliny's history of Rome) state was sited in the
temples' ruins. However, the in Carcere (in jail) part of the name of
the church was only changed to "in Carcere Tulliano" in the 14th
century, owing to an erroneous identification. The prison was really that of
Byzantine times.
Spolia from all these ancient remains is still apparent in the church's construction, most particularly three columns from the Temple of Juno Sospita, which are incorporated into both the 10th century and 1599 north façades of the church. The columns of the Temple of Janus, dedicated by Gaius Duilius after his naval victory at the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC, can still be seen as being incorporated into the wall of the church.
The Forum Piscarium was the fish market of ancient Rome (a forum venalium). It was burned in 210 BC and rebuilt the next year. In 179 BC it was incorporated in the general Macellum, built by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior in the same region.
The Theatre of Marcellus (Latin: Theatrum Marcelli) is an ancient open-air theatre, built in the closing years of the Roman Republic. There, visitors were able to watch performances of drama and song. Space for the theatre was cleared by Julius Caesar, who expropriated the area for a large stretch, demolishing the existing buildings including the Temple of Piety, for which it was widely criticized. Unfortunately, he was murdered before its construction could begin; the theatre was advanced enough by 17 BC that part of the celebration of the ludi saeculares (Secular Games) took place within the theatre; it was completed in 13 BC and formally inaugurated in 12 BC by Augustus, named after his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus who had died in 23 BC.
It was restored by Vespasian and Severus
Alexander. The theater was operating probably in the 4th century, but it
subsequently underwent structural transformations: it was transformed into a
fortress, because of its position near the river. The lower part, corresponding
to the Roman structures, was acquired in the 1930ss by the Municipality of
Rome, excavated and restored after carrying out a radical liberation of the
area.
The Temple of Apollo Sosianus (previously known
as the Apollinar and the temple of Apollo Medicus) is a Roman
temple dedicated to Apollo in the Campus Martius.
The three columns of the temple which survive to full-height today belong to the Augustan rebuild, but the cult of Apollo had existed in this area since at least to the mid-5th century BC when an Apollinar (a sacred grove or altar) was recorded on this site. Since Apollo was a foreign cult, it thus legally had to be placed outside the pomerium, making it a regular spot for extra-pomerial senate meetings (This was also Apollo's only temple in Rome until Augustus dedicated another on the Palatine Hill.)
The Porticus Octaviae (Portico of Octavia) is
an ancient structure in Rome. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the temples
of Jupiter Stator and Juno Regina, as well as a library. The
structure was used as a fish market from the medieval period up to the end of
19th century.
The complex of the Porticus Octaviae is the
only one preserved of the large porticoes that limited the square of the "Circus
Flaminius" on the northern side. This area today corresponds to the
ancient ghetto. Between 27 and 23 BC, it was rebuilt by Augustus,
in place of the oldest Portico of Metellus, and dedicated to his sister Octavia.
It was later restored and partially rebuilt in 203 by Septimius
Severus, after a fire in 191, a period to which most of the currently
visible remains belong.
In ancient times, its interior was a sort of open-air
museum, because it housed a large number of artworks, such as the turma
Alexandri, a bronze work depicting Alexander the Great
and his knights, created by Lysippos.
Watch the video of how probably looked like those art
works: https://youtu.be/djWmCQqHKQg?t=3145
Torre
Argentina
After these places we made a detour and got to the Largo
di Torre Argentina - a square with four Roman Republican temples and
the remains of Pompey's Theatre. It is in the ancient Campus Martius.
The name of the square comes from the Torre Argentina, which takes its
name from the city of Strasbourg whose Latin name was Argentoratum.
Between 1926 and 1929, the demolition of an old
neighborhood for the construction of new buildings, unexpectedly brought to
light one of the most important archaeological sites of the city: a large paved
square with the remains of four temples from the Republican era.
The temples are commonly indicated with the first four
letters of the alphabet since their identification is not yet completely
certain.
Temple C - late
4th early 3rd century BC - was probably dedicated to the goddess Feronia.
Temple A - mid 3rd century BC - on the same level, was named after Giuturna.
Temple D was built at the beginning of the 2nd century BC and was
dedicated to the Lari Permarini or, according to other
hypotheses, to the Nymphs.
In tuff slabs, the first floor was probably built
after the devastating fire of 111 BC. To this floor is linked the construction
of Temple B, with a circular plan on a high podium, identified with the
temple of Fortune huiusce diei, or Fortuna of the present day.
The site is also famous because here, at the Ides of
March of 44 BC, the mortal conspiracy against Julius Caesar took
place. He was assassinated in the Curia of Pompey, and the spot, where
he is believed to have been assassinated, is in the square.
Temples A, B, C
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Also, on our way we met some charming places, not
directly connected to Ancient Rome, but they are interesting to visit. In Rome
every step you take brings you to wonderful surroundings.
Giardini
di Palazzo Venezia and Church of Saint Mark Evangelist 'al
Campidoglio'
Crossing the Piazza Venezia with a fascinating
view on the Altar of the Fatherland.
Athenaeum
Soon after that we saw the ruins of the Athenaeum.
This was a school (ludus) founded by the Emperor Hadrian for the
promotion of literary and scientific studies (ingenuarum artium). Also
known as Hadrian’s Auditoria (Atheneum Hadriani). The name "Athenaeum"
came from the city of Athens, which was still regarded as the seat of
intellectual refinement. The Athenaeum was situated near the Capitoline
Hill: its site was discovered in 2009 during excavation for the
construction of the Rome Metro C Line.
The building, dated, also thanks to stamps on the
bricks of the structures, to the years between AD 123 and AD 125, was separated
from Trajan’s Forum by a curvilinear road and was articulated on two
levels, towering over the ancient Via Flaminia – whose route is traced
by today’s Via del Corso – located in today’s Piazza Venezia at a depth of
about two metres. The ground floor, only partially preserved, consisted of
three large halls, characterised by floor and wall decorations in polychrome
marble and provided with facing staircases on either side of a central
corridor, arranged in a radial pattern along the curvilinear road. The central
corridor was intended for the orator who addressed the audience arranged with
subsellia (seats) on the steps to present his work and receive the opinion
of the auditorium. Two of the halls emerged during recent excavations; part of
the third hall was identified in the early 20th century during the construction
of the Assicurazioni Generali building.
The Auditoria bordered to the north with a residential
insula dating back to the 2nd century and to the west with a commercial block
along the Via Flaminia. They were certainly in use until late antiquity,
as testified by the discovery in the excavation of two marble statue bases with
an inscription related to the senator Fabius Felix Passifilus Paulinus,
prefect of the city between the late 5th and early 6th century, known for other
epigraphic evidence referring to him, including his name engraved on one of the
seats reserved for senators in the Colosseum.
The complex maintained a certain continuity of use
until the 6th century when, within the halls now deprived of their marble
coverings, a metallurgical workshop for processing copper alloys was
established, recognised for the presence of processing slag and ingots, as well
as for the pits housing small furnaces excavated in the floor and along the
steps. The workshop was destroyed between the end of the 7th and the beginning
of the 8th century, and a number of burials were made in the area of the
central hall. The area was temporarily abandoned starting in 847 when a violent
earthquake caused the collapse of the upper floor and the vaulted roofs of the
halls: a large portion of the collapsed vault is still clearly visible today on
the floor of the northern hall. It returned to use between the 12th and 13th
century, and above the collapsed central hall a lime production facility was
built.
Since that point our way laid through the well-known Imperial Forums and Colosseum. We’ll see them more precise and detailed next days, and for now, we’re just going to show you some photos of them.
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