AGRI ROMANI Tabula
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The Via Nomentana diverged from the Via Salaria at the Collina gate in the Servian walls, and passed through the Aurelian wall at a gate which now stands a little to the south of the modern Porta Pia. The present road follows the line of the ancient Via Nomentana, as may be seen by the ruins of tombs which fringe it beyond S. Agnese. The Chapel of S. Constanza, opposite S. Agnese, is an interesting building of the Constantinian epoch, and the mosaics it contains, including a mixture of Christian and pagan emblems, are very remarkable. The Mons Sacer stands just beyond the bridge over the Anio, and the Villa of Phaon, where Nero ended his life, was at the Vigne Nuove, on a side road which branches off to the right, just beyond the Ponte Nomentano.

The Via Salaria is said to have been so named from the supplies of salt conveyed along it to the Sabine district at the time when the Romans and Sabines were confederates. It is first mentioned in history as the scene of the single combat between Manlius and the gigantic Gaul. The ancient road passed out at the Collina gate, and followed very nearly the same line as the present road along the left bank of the Tiber, as may be seen by the ruins near Serpentara, and by the position of the ancient bridge, the Ponte Salaro, which carries it over the Anio close to Antemnæ. Beyond this, Fidenæ and the Allia are the most remarkable points of interest upon the road in the neighbourhood of Rome. Beyond Malpasso, the ancient road, according to Nibby, diverges to the right, crossing the railway to Ancona.

The Via Flaminia, after passing through the Porta Ratumena at the Tomb of Bibulus, left the Aurelian fortifications at the Porta Flaminia, which stood a little nearer the slope of Monte Pincio than the present Porta del Popolo. It ran to the right of the present street, and then crossed the Tiber at the well-known Milvian bridge, and then diverged to the right along the Tiber valley, while the Via Cassia ascended to the left among the Etruscan hills towards Veii, which lay to the right at the twelfth milestone. The old Flaminian Road lay closer to the river than the modern, which is carried through a cutting in the hills and rejoins it at Tor di Quinto. There are a few rock tombs on the left hand, between the fifth and sixth milestones. One of them has been connected with the poet Ovid by a mistaken inference drawn from the inscription found upon it which bears the name of Q. Nasonius Ambrosius.

 

Ponte Nomentano.

 

The Ponte Molle, which derives its name from an unknown Roman Mulvius, or from the neighbouring hills, carries the Flaminian Road over the Tiber at a distance of two miles from the Porta del Popolo. Some of the foundations of the bridge, and parts of the peperino and travertine stonework in the smaller arches, are ancient. The victory of Constantine over Maxentius, which is usually called the battle of the Pons Mulvius, was gained six miles further along the road.

An inscription cut in a block of travertine has been fixed in the right-hand parapet of the bridge. This inscription records the inspection of the banks of the Tiber by the Censors of M. Valerius and Publius Serveilius, who were Censors in the year B.C. 55.

Villa of Livia at Prima Porta.

One of the imperial villas of an early date was placed on the right bank of the Tiber at the ninth milestone on the Via Flaminia in the Veientine territory.

The Via Flaminia is here bordered for a long distance on the left-hand side by tufa rocks of a reddish hue, whence the district had obtained, in Livy’s time, the name of Saxa Rubra. The Cremera, now the Valca, is one of the streams which enter the Tiber in this district, and beyond it, where the road turns to the left, and, leaving the valley of the Tiber, ascends the hill through a cutting, is the stream and hamlet of Prima Porta. On the right of the road here, and between it and the Tiber, lie the ruins of a large villa, the various terraces of which, raised one above the other, occupy the whole of the top of the hill, and command magnificent views of the Sabine and Æquian highlands. There can be no doubt that these ruins are the remains of the villa of Livia called ad Gallinas, mentioned by Pliny and by Suetonius as situated at the ninth milestone on the Via Flaminia. The style of construction in the walls which remain corresponds to that of the Mausoleum of Augustus in the Campus Martius. The reticulated work has that peculiar irregularity about it which indicates the transition from the opus incertum to the more regularly formed opus reticulatum. Nibby had pointed out this spot in 1837 as one in which a rich harvest might be reaped from excavating, but it was not till 1863 that the splendid Statue of Augustus, now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican with other interesting sculptures, was dug up here.[161]

At the same time some rooms were excavated at a depth of ten feet, under the level of the ancient villa. They had apparently been closed at a very early time and filled with earth, in order to erect a building over them. The largest of these was apparently intended as a cool retreat during the summer heats, and the walls are painted with trees and birds, in imitation of a rustic bower. These paintings have attracted great attention as being some of the most ancient now in existence, and also on account of their intrinsic beauty, and the wonderful way in which they have preserved their freshness of colour. The pavement of this painted room was of marble, which was, however, removed when the earth was thrown in at the time of building the rooms above.

The legend about this villa connects it with the death of Nero, relating that the laurel bushes and the white fowls, for which the villa had been celebrated since the days of Livia, withered and died out during Nero’s last days.

Veii.

Beyond Prima Porta, to the west, is the site of Veii. This is about twelve miles from Rome, and now bears the name of Isola Farnese. But little remains of the ancient city have been found, but no doubt is now felt by antiquaries that the city occupied the rocky ground between the Cremera and the Fosso de’ due Fossi.

Inscriptions bearing the names of some Etruscan families, especially the Tarquitii, have been found here, and the remains of the ancient citadel, on the spot now called the Piazza d’Armi, are mentioned in some old ecclesiastical documents.

 

ICHNOGRAPHIA. Romae Veteris.
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One of the gates must have been at the spot now called the Porta de’ Sette Pagi as the road from Veii to Sutri probably passed out here, and another gate was opposite Isola called the Porta dell’ Arco. A third may have stood towards Fidenæ, where the ancient postern and flight of steps is now to be seen, called La Scaletta. Other remains are to be seen near the site of a gate called by Canina La Spezieria. The Ponte Sodo and the tombs near it are worth attention, as is also the ancient Etruscan tomb called the Grotta Campana, in which a most interesting set of sepulchral ornamentations and cinerary urns has been preserved. The chief monuments of Veii, which have been taken to Rome, are the Ionic columns in front of the Post Office in the Piazza Colonna, the Statue of Tiberius, and the colossal heads of Tiberius and Augustus, now in the Vatican Museum.[162]

 

 


INDEX.

A.

Academia, 21, 246

Ædes Publican, Flavian, 22, 24

Æsculapius, temple of, 116

Agger of Servius, 157

Agon Capitolinus, 181

Agrippina, pedestal of, 146, 178

Alba Longa, 207

Alban Hills, 192, 194;
Emissarium or tunnel of, 204

—— Lake, 203

—— Mount, 206

Albanum Cæsarum, 202

Albula, 189

Albulæ Aquæ, 236

Alexamenus, 18

Allia, 257

Altar of Sextius, 16

Amphitheatrum Castrense, 173

Ancient stone work, 163

Anio, falls of, 249

Antoninus Pius, pedestal of column, 178

Appian Road, 194

Aqua Virgo, 135

Arches, 9

Arch of Constantine, 59

—— Dolabella, 174

—— Drusus, 171

—— Gallienus, 77

—— M. Aurelius, 177

—— Severus, 52

—— Silversmiths, 104

—— Tiberius, 46

—— Titus, 31

Architectural styles, 5, 11

Arco dei Pantani, 92

Area Flacciana, 15

Arena of Coliseum, 67

Arricia, causeway at, 208

Arval College, 231

Atta, tomb of, 219

Atticus, tomb of, 198

Atrium, Palatine, 23

Auguratorium, on Palatine, 30

Augustan buildings, 21

Aurelius, M., bas-reliefs from arch, 177

Aventine and Cælian Hills, 161.


B.

Bandusiæ Fons, 256

Basilica, Constantine, 34, 35, 183

—— Julia, 44

——, Palatine, 24

——, Ulpia, 83

Bas-reliefs in Forum, 42, 43

Baths of Agrippa, 134

—— Caracalla, 166, 183

—— Constantine, 100, 183

—— Diocletian, 153

—— Titus, 75

Bibliotheca, 21

Bibulus, tomb of, 97

Brickwork, 12

Bronze cone, 149, 178;
peacocks, 150, 178

Bovillæ, 200


C.

Cæcilia Metella, tomb of, 197

Cælian, houses on, 176

Caffarelli Palace, 98

Caligula, Palace of, 31

Calydonian boar hunt, 181

Campagna, hills of, 191;
population, 192

Capitoline map, 120, 181

Capitolium, 98

Casale Rotondo, 200

Cestius, tomb of, 165

Cicero’s Villa, 218

Circus Flaminius, 123;

—— Maximus, Carceres of, 112

Claudian Aqueduct, 20, 81, 174

Climate, 189

Clivus Victoriæ, 14

Cloaca Maxima, 46, 105

Clodius, Villa of, 201

Cluilia Fossa, 197

Coliseum, 61;
architecture of, 72;
characteristic of builder, 70

Colonnacce, 94

Colossus of Nero, 63

Columbaria, 73, 170

Columns, 10

Column of Marcus Aurelius, 138

—— Phocas, 41

—— Trajan, 84;
cast of, 89

Columna Centenaria, 142

Commodus, Palace of, 176

Constantine, Baths of, 100

Cornelia Gracchorum, 121

Cosmedin, S. Maria in, 111

Cremera, 259

Cryptoporticus, 25

Curtius, bas-relief, 179


D.

Dacian campaigns, Trajan’s, 87

Decebalus, 88

Demosthenes, statue of, 182

Digentia, 254

Dii Consentes, area of, 48

Dogana, in Piazza di Pietra, 136

Domitius Calvinus, pedestal, 26, 28

Domus Aurea of Nero, 73

Doria Palace, 127

Duilian column, inscription on, 179


E.

Egeria, grotto of, 195

Egyptian antiquities, 129, 177

Einsiedlen MS., 51, 76, 100, 125, 138, 148

Eurysaces, tomb of, 81


F.

Fasti Consulares, 179

—— Prænestini, 229

Faustina, the younger, 178

Fidenæ, 257

Fiumicino, 231

Flaminia, Via, 257

Forum Augusti, 92

—— Julium, 91

——, Nerva’s, 94

—— Romanum, 38

——, Trajan’s, 83

Fratres Arvales, 231;
buildings of, 232

Freshwater strata, 187

Frontispicium Neronis, 100


G.

Gabii, 221

Gabinius, Villa of, 218

Galuzze, 79

Gelotiana, Domus, 17

Geology of Campagna, 185

Germalus, 17, 29

Germanicus, House of, 26

Geta, erased, 104, 119

Gladiator or Gaul, dying, 181

Gnomon Obelisk, 137

Gordiana, Villa, 219

Gradus Concordiæ, 51

Graffiti, 18, 70


H.

Hadrian, colossal head of, 178

Hadrian’s Villa, 237;
antiquities from, 181, 183

Heliogabalus, Lavacrum, 36, 58

Horace, Sabine farm, 254

House of Laterani, 173


I.

Imperial monuments, 3


J.

Janus Quadrifrons, 103

Julius Cæsar, Heroon of, 39

Jupiter Pluvius, 141

—— Propugnator, 28

—— Redux, 176

—— Stator, 25

—— Victor, 28


L.

Labicum, 223

Laconicum, 134, 155, 168

Laocoon, 182

Lararium, Palatine, 24

Latifundia, 192

Latin road, tombs on, 211

Latium, towns of, 191, 192

Lautumiæ, 56

Legio fulminata, 141

Lucretilis, 256


M.

Mæcenas, Auditorium of, 80;
Tower of, 102

Mamertine Prison, 55

Mandela, 254

Marcus Aurelius, statue of, 183

Marine strata, 185

Masonry, Roman, 4

Mausoleum of Augustus, 143

—— Hadrian, 148

Maxentius, Circus of, 196

Meta Sudans, 58

Milestones on Appian Road, 183

Miliarium Aureum, 54

Minerva Medica, 78

Mons Sacer, 257

Monte Cavallo, 183

—— Testaccio, 164

Monumental History, 2

Monumentum Ancyranum, 145

Muro Torto, 147

Museum, Kircherian, antiquities in, 183


N.

Navicella, 174

Nemi, Lake of, 208;
Cæsar’s Villa at, 210

Nomentana, Via, 257

Nymphæum, Palatine, 23


O.

Obelisks, 12, 129, 145

Oligarchical monuments, 2

Ostia, 229;
antiquities from, 182


P.

Palatine, Belvedere on, 20;
entrance, 14;
paintings on peristylium, 23, 27;
walls, 16, 17

Pantheon, 130;
plundered, 135

Pedestals, in Forum, 41, 42

Phaon, Villa of, 257

Piazza Navona, 143

Pillar of Antoninus Pius, 138

Plautian Tomb, 236

Pompey, Villa and Tomb of, 201

Pons Ælius, 148

Ponte Lucano, 236

—— Molle, or Milvian bridge, 257

—— di Nono, 221

—— Rotto, 115

—— S. Sisto, 126

Porphyry basin, 182

Porta Capena, 163

—— Chiusa, 159

—— Collina, 257

—— Maggiore, 81

—— Mugionia, 24

—— Ratumena, 97

—— Romanula, 15

—— S. Lorenzo, 81

—— Viminalis, 153

Porticus Catuli, 15

—— Metelli, 120

—— Octaviæ, 119

Portland Vase, 181

Porto, 233

Præneste, 223

Prætorian Camp, 158

Prima Porta, statue of Augustus from, 260;
Villa of Livia, 259

Puteal, in Forum, 39


Q.

Quintiliana, Villa of Commodus, 198, 212;
sculpture from, 200

Quirinal Hill, 101

Quirinale, or Monte Cavallo, Piazza, 101, 183


R.

Rediculus, Divus, 195

Regal Monuments, 2

Republican Monuments, 2

Rienzi, 147

Roma Vecchia, 197, 212

Rostra of Empire, 54

Rutilius, 248


S.

Salaria Via, 257

Salita del Grillo, ruin in, 83

Sallustia, statue of, 172

S. Andrea della Valle, 123

S. Angelo, bridge of, 148

S. Constanza, Chapel of, 257

SS. Cosma and Damiano, 36

S. Maria degli Angeli, 153, 155

S. Maria in Via Lata, 127

S. Nicola in Carcere, ruins in, 117

S. Urbano, 195

Sarcophagi and cippus, 182

Saxa Rubra, 259

Scala Cœli, 29

Schola Xanthi, 49

Scipio, Sarcophagus, 182

Scipios, Tomb of, 170

Sculpture, ancient specimens of, 184

Seneca, Villa of, 197

Septa, 127

Septizonium, 20, 151

Servian Walls, 161

Sessorium, 172

Sette Basse, 212

—— Sale, 75

Site of Rome, 1

Sortes Prænestinæ, 225, 228

Stadium Palatinum, 18

Suovetaurilia, 42, 60, 88


T.

Tabularium, 56

Tarpeian Rock, 99

Tarquin Dynasty, 106, 157, 161

Teatro Correa, 143

Temple of Albunea at Tivoli, 252

—— Antoninus and Faustina, 40

—— Artemis at Nemi, 210

—— Bacchus or Honos, 195

—— Castor, 38

—— Ceres, 110

—— Concord, 50

—— Cybele, 29

—— Fortuna Prænestina, 225

—— Fortuna Virilis, 107

—— Hadrian, 137

—— Isis, 128

—— Jupiter Capitolinus, 98

—— Jupiter Feretrius, 29

—— Jupiter Latiaris, 207

—— Lares Præstites, 29

—— Marcus Aurelius, 139

—— Mars Ultor, 92

—— Minerva, 96

—— Penates, 36

—— Romulus, 196

—— Saturn, 46

—— Serapis, 128

—— Sibyl, or Vesta, at Tivoli, 251

—— Sun, Aurelian’s, 100

—— Venus and Cupid, 172

—— Venus and Rome, 32

—— Vespasian, 49

—— Vesta, 39

—— Vesta or Hercules, 108

Temples, on Palatine, 28

Theatre of Balbus, 122, 183

—— Marcellus, 112

—— Pompey, 123

Theseus and Amazons, 181

Tiber, Island of, 115;
bridges, 116;
water of, 188

Tiberius, House of, 26, 30

Tivoli, or Tibur, 235;
Villas at, 252

Torre Fiscale, 212

—— Paterno, ruins at, 234

—— Pignatara, 221

Torso Belvedere, 182

Totilas, 152, 236, 247

Transitoria, Domus, 34

Transtiberine Walls, 4

Travertine, quarries, 236

Triclinium, Palatine, 22

Trophies, of Marius, 76, 183

Tufaceous stone, 186

Tunnels, subterranean, 206

Tusculum, 214;
gate and walls, 216;
history of city, 217;
theatre at, 215


U.

Ustica, 256

Ustrina Cæsarum, 144, 146


V.

Vacuna, Chapel of, 256

Varia, 254

Vatican Hill, enclosed, 4

V. D. N., 18

Veii, 260

Veii and Campagna, antiquities from, 182

Velabrum, 103

Velia, 31

Vettius Prætextatus, 49

Vicus Tuscus, 39

Vigna Guidi, 169

Villa Mills, 21

Villas, ancient, 190, 193

Vitiges, 149, 152, 193

Volcanic strata, 186

Vota, 60


W.

Wolf, bronze figure, 17, 180

 

 

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET
AND CHARING CROSS.

 

 


Footnotes:

[1] See Corp. Inscr. Lat. vol. vi. 1, No. 1158.

[2] Cic. de Har. Resp. xv., 33. Vettius, in Cic. ad Att. ii. 24, calls Cicero “vicinus consulis,” i.e. near the Regia.

[3] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ ch. viii. p. 160.

[4] Festus, p. 262, “infimo clivo Victoriæ.”

[5] A descent to the right to the Forum has been observed by a French architect. See ‘Le Forum Romain,’ par Dutert; Lévy, Paris, 1876, p. 14. ‘Guida del Palatino,’ p. 71. Valerius Maximus, vi. 3, 1. Cic. pro Dom. 38. 102.

[6] Cic. de Div. i. 45; ii. 32. Liv. v. 32.

[7] Corp. Inscr. i. 632. Wordsworth, Frag. of early Latin, p. 167, 410.

[8] Cic. de Orat. ii. 249.

[9] Cic. ad Att. iv. 3, 3. Liv. xxxiii. 26.

[10] Vacca Memorie 3, Urlichs, in Rheinisches Museum, 1846.

[11] See Henzen, in Bull. dell. Inst., 1867. The name of Domus Gelotiana has been given to this ruin by Visconti. See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 181.

[12] The marks on the bricks found here bear the names of Clonius and Ermetes, freedmen of the Gens Domitia, but the walls which stand near the meta are constructed of materials which show that they are of later date, and belong to the Restoration of Theodoric, A.D. 500.

[13] Hist. Aug. Severus, 19, 24. See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 180.

[14] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ pp. 174, 200.

[15] Plin. Ep. I. 13.

[16] See ‘The Journal of Philology,’ Cambridge 1869, vol. ii. p. 89.

[17] Stat. Silv., iv. 2, 26.

[18] The name Basilica Jovis, placed here by Rosa, probably refers to a temple and not to this tribunal.

Plin. Panegyr., 47.

[19] ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 34.

[20] Josephus, Ant. Jud. xix. 1, 15.

[21] Gell, N. A. xx. 1, 2.

[22] Suet. Tib. 5.

[23] Orelli, Inscr. 6057, 6058.

[24] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 178.

[25] Solinus, i. 18.

[26] Orelli, 2286.

[27] Tac. Hist. i. 27.

[28] Hist. Aug. Ant. Pius, 10; Ant. Phil. 6; Gell. xiii. 20.

[29] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 160, Note 1.

[30] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 162.

[31] Josephus, Bell. Jud. vii. 5, 7.

[32] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 170.

[33] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 171.

[34] Parker’s ‘Archæology of Rome,’ vol. ii. p. 98. Jordan, ‘Forma urbis Romæ’; Berlin, 1874, p. 37.

[35] ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 169.

[36] Aur. Vict. Cæs. xl. 26. See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 166.

[37] Vitruv. v. 1.

[38] ‘Archæology of Rome,’ vol. ii. p. 75.

[39] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 163.

[40] Lampridius, Hist. Aug. Ant. Hel. 8, 17, in ædibus aulicis. Parker, ‘Archæology of Rome,’ vol. ii. p. 92.

[41] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 100.

[42] Ibid. p. 103.

[43] Eckhel, vii. 37. On the mistaken appropriation of the temple to M. Aurelius, see ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ p. 114.

[44] See Reber’s ‘Ruinen Roms,’ p. 132.

[45] Corp. Inscr. Lat. vol. vi. pt. 1, No. 1200. “Indictionis undecimo Post Consulatum pietatis ejus anno quinto” are the last words of the inscription. “In the eleventh year of his appointment and the fifth year of his reverence the emperor.” See Nibby, ‘Roma antica,’ p. 152; Zell. Epigr. 1226. A D = A Deo.

[46] See Clinton, Fast. Rom. A.D. 608.

[47] Stat. Silv. i. 1. Mr. Parker thinks that this was the pedestal of a statue of Constantine. Archæol. vol. ii. pl. xix.

[48] Nichols, ‘The Roman Forum,’ p. 78.

[49] See ‘Rome and the Campagna,’ Appendix, p. 452.