INDEX OR EXPLANATION OF THE RUINS OF ANCIENT ROME, DELINEATED IN THE FOLLOWING TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP
BEFORE naming and discussing the remains of Buildings and other antiquities, numbered in the map, take note that the circumference of the points noted in its interior with the letter A show the perimeter of the walls of Rome with their gates before their expansion by Emperor Aurelian. I have determined this perimeter through a thorough consultation of the ancient writers, who discuss the buildings and places that bordered the area: omitting, for the sake of brevity, to relate here the evidence of this determination, the conclusion of which we will see most appropriately, in the large map of ancient Rome which I will soon publish.
Let us start in the meantime with the description of the map from the external borders around today’s walls of Rome, and precisely from the bank of the Tiber near Testaccio, following the asterisk* according to the numbers listed in consecutive order. But before anything else, I believe it is important to know the difference between the original construction of the Aurelian walls and the restorations made to them by Arcadius and Honorius, Belisarius, Totila (Baduila), Narses, the Supreme Pontiffs, and others. On this subject it will be sufficient to observe, that the Aurelian walls were built in courses of triangular tiles of tevolozza which were hammered on the outside and filled in with opus incertum, in other words, with every type of shard. The shards were placed horizontally and strengthened with mortar and pozzolana in between them; every three or four palmi a bed of large tiles tie them together and unite the opus incertum to the aforementioned courses of tevolozza, rendering the construction of the walls stable and firm, as one can see in Plate VIII of this volume, at figure I. One can see that these same walls were fortified with towers, and constructed internally with a sequence of arches, and with openings, or small windows underneath every arch, corresponding to the exterior. These, according to the customs of ancient times, were used by sentinels, as can be seen in the aforementioned Plate VIII, at figure II. If on our stroll we stumble upon the restorations made by Constantine to these same walls, one should know, without further explanation, that they are of the same construction as those by Aurelian.
*From the asterisk to the number 1, the walls are almost completely destroyed.
1. From the number 1 to 2, where the pyramid of Caius Cestius is located, the walls are ancient, and possibly from the time of Aurelius, but these have been restored in many places by both the Ancients and Moderns.
2. Sepulchral Pyramid of Gaius Cestius, the sides of which abut the walls. I illustrate this Pyramid in detail in Volume III, from plate XL to XLVIII.
3. Closed Gate. One must note that next to every open gate there is another that is closed. The use of these gates might have been to open them to deploy against the enemy, and in case the enemy breached the external gate, soldiers would attack the enemy while they were at the internal gate, or antiporta.
4. Porta di San Paolo on the street leading to Ostia. This gate corresponds to the Porta Lavernale on the most ancient walls surrounding the city, rebuilt by Belisarius with marble taken from other buildings, on the same ground level as the Aurelian walls that were already in ruins. Its entrance is at the same height as the modern ground level and thus 30 palmi higher than the ancient ground level of the pyramid nearby.
5 and 6. Walls rebuilt on the ruins of the ancient walls by the Supreme Pontiffs for modern use.
7. Closed gate belonging to the remains of an ancient building, partially buried underneath the ground level of the Aurelian walls. The cornices of tile, delicately carved, lead one to believe that they were built in the great age of the Republic.
8. Closed gate, whose entrance is higher than the subsequent gate. This is a work of the low times.
9. Porta di San Sebastiano, corresponding to the Porta Capena on the most ancient walls surrounding the city. It was installed by Aurelian and later rebuilt by Belisarius on the Appian Way. The boss stones, seen in the marble blocks on the sides of the foundations of the towers, served to leverage the ropes in order to lift the blocks onto the building. The Aurelian walls up to this gate were mistreated and restored in different periods, and especially by Belisarius.
10. Porta Latina, corresponding to the Ferentina on the most ancient walls surrounding the city. It is structurally weak, and in fact different from the others. Appearing in the voussoir in the middle of the arch is IXP, which leads one to believe that it was rebuilt in Christian times.
11. Closed gate, under which flows the Aqueduct, called Crabra in ancient times, and today, Marana. This gate was restored, along with its walls in 1157, as one learns from the inscription: REGION OF SANT’ANGELO IN THE YEAR 1157 OF THE INCARNATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR OLD AGE, RESTORED THESE CRUMBLING WALLS. THEY WERE THE SENATORS SASSO, GIOVANNI DI ALBERICO, ROGIERO BUCCACANE, PINZO FILIPPO, GIOVANNI DE PARENZO, PIETRO DIOTESALVI, CENCIO DE ANSOINO, RAINALDO ROMANO, E NICOLA MANETTO.
12. Barbican built in courses from pieces tufa, possibly taken from the nearby Aqueducts of the Acqua Claudia and Anione Nuovo. There, one discovers that the canals are filled with paving, employed so that the water would not penetrate the joints of the Aqueduct, as demonstrated in Plate IX of this volume, figure 1.
13. Porta Asinaria, today closed, so named after the ancient street Asinaria. The gate corresponds to the Porta Celimontana. During the time of Onorius, Alaric, in an act of betrayal, entered through this gate into Rome, sacking it for the first time. The jambs and every other piece of marble that adorned the gate were thus removed during the pontificate of Gregory XIII to decorate the new gate, called San Giovanni. The aforesaid gate must have been one of the most magnificent for its two great flanking towers. Inside this gate there are many windows in the barbarous style, which can be attributed to Totila (Baduila), who had repaired the gate with adjoining walls.
14. Porta di San Giovanni, newly built by the aforementioned Supreme Pontiff. One can see a portion of the ancient reticulated wall there.
15. Ruin of the Castrense Amphitheater made of tevolozza, whose arches were closed and joined to the city walls by Aurelian, as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate IX at figure II. Due to the excavations of this site, the theatre orchestra was found built on virgin soil, and grottoes were discovered beneath it which were filled with bones of large animals that were used in the performances. The walls that then followed show, in their modifications, that they suffered damage by the Barbarians.
16. Remains of the buildings of the ancient Sessorium that traverse the walls.
17. Barbican composed of tufa from the ancient aqueduct referenced at number 12, for the same reasons explained there.
18. Gate, today closed, corresponding to the Esquilina of the interior walls. The ancient streets Prenestina and Labicana entered through this gate. Even though this gate is ten palmi below the current ground level, it is not less than twenty palmi higher than the ground of the nearby Aqueduct of the Acqua Claudia. Above the gate this inscription appears: THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME. FOR THE EMPERORS CAESARS OUR LORDS, AND UNDEFEATED PRINCES ARCADIUS AND HONORIUS, VICTORIOUS AND TRIUMPHANT, ALWAYS NOBLE, TO CELEBRATE THE RESTORATION OF THE WALLS, GATES, AND TOWERS OF THE ETERNAL CITY, AFTER THE REMOVAL OF IMMENSE QUANTITIES OF RUINS. AT THE SUGGESTION OF THE DISTINGUISHED AND ILLUSTRIOUS SOLDIER AND COMMANDER OF BOTH ARMED FORCES, FLAVIUS STILICHO, HAS ERECTED THEIR STATUES IN THE PERPETUAL MEMORY OF THEIR NAMES. FLAVIUS MACROBIUS LONGINIANUS, DISTINGUISHED PREFECT OF THE CITY, DEVOTED TO THEIR MAJESTY AND DIVINITY, TOOK CARE OF THE WORK. From this inscription one can conclude that the aforementioned gate was built by Aurelian, reflecting the fact that they were restored under the empire of Arcadius and Honorius, and could not have been built by anyone other than Aurelian, since we know from the ancient writers, that between his empire, and the cited two fellow emperors, the walls and gates were simply repaired by Constantine, because they had not yet suffered the damages caused by the Barbarians. Due to the crime of the same Stilicho, these damages began only after the death of Arcadius, since the restorations had already been completed under his care, as referenced in the inscription above. Therefore, the observation that this gate is, as we have said, twenty palmi higher than the ground level of the nearby aqueducts of the Acqua Claudio and Anione Nuovo is not sufficient to rebut the belief that the gate was built by Aurelian; but rather, one should reflect, firstly, that one finds that the ground level had already partially increased in his time, since the ruins of these buildings were caused by frequent fires, as other writers, including Frontinus, recount. Frontinus, who wrote during the time of Nerva and Trajan, says, in reference to the aqueducts in Rome: while others cannot reach the higher points; for the hills have gradually grown higher with ruins because of frequent fires. Secondly, that part of the same ground level should have been equal to the interior part of the walls built by the same Aurelian with the ruins of the buildings that cluttered the area, and the surroundings of the same walls, so as form a type of terreplein. Thirdly, that the backfill outside the walls was thereafter dug out by the aforementioned Arcadius and Honorius, as the words note: removal of immense quantities of ruins, which were not replaced by Aurelian due to lack of time, as we will explain below. And it is even less offensive to see that the simple and poor structure of this gate does not correspond to the magnificence of the times of Aurelian, if one considers the brief space of seven years during which he reigned over the empire, always occupied by difficult wars, as he was with his great work of this incredibly vast perimeter of city walls, armed in great part by towers, that had been planned by his predecessors, while only he had undertaken the task and brought it to completion; and his principal concern was to finish the work with the greatest haste, erecting gates in opportune positions, and possibly using the same marble from the previous walls, unconcerned about the magnificence that ease and luxury could have given him.
19. Porta Maggiore, which must have been built and opened after the preceding gate became impassable. This is reflected by the fact that one reads the aforementioned inscription of Arcadius and Honorius above the closed gate, and not above this gate. Furthermore, the present gate is around ten palmi higher than the other gate, therefore exceeding the ground level of the nearby ancient aqueduct of the Acqua Claudia and Anione Nuovo, adjoined to the walls, as demonstrated in Plate X of this volume, at figure II, belonging to the Porta San Lorenzo.
20. One of the remains of the aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia, Tepula, and Giulia, which intersects with the city walls. This aqueduct joined the remaining walls via the Porta San Lorenzo. On this corner near the walls, I observed two corresponding remains of CCXXI, passages of substructure that can be seen in the ancient aqueduct of the Anione Vecchio, to which Sixtus Julius Frontinus refers in his Commentary, as one reads under paragraph 7 in the explanation of the topographical Map of the Aqueducts according to plate XXXVIII in this Volume. This is why I believe that the empty space probably served as a water channel or canal: indeed, because, being twenty-five palmi higher than the ancient ground level, they cannot be presumed to have belonged to some sewage tunnel; or indeed because they couldn’t have belonged to other waters that flowed in this area, of which, with respect to the distribution of water through arches, one can still see the ancient aqueduct, and with respect to the subterranean channels, that would possibly belong to the Appia or a branch of the Augusta, one does not read in the cited author Frontinus, nor in other writers, that the aqueducts had any substructure: and also because, therefore, the Anione Vecchio should have flowed along the Speranza Vecchia, as the same author writes. These remains are illustrated in Plate X, at figure I.
21. Closed gate.
22. Another gate, also closed, whose style allows us to understand that it was built after the construction of the walls.
23. Porta San Lorenzo in front of the ancient Porta Interaggeres of the earlier perimeter. The ancient street via Collatina went through this gate. Its entrance is equal to the modern ground level, 25 palmi above the ancient level, where there is another remnant near the aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia mentioned above. The cited inscription by Arcadius and Honorius is also located above this gate, which leads us to conclude that this gate was built by Aurelian and restored by said successors, for the reasons discussed at length at number 18 regarding the closed gate referenced here. Figure II of Plate X, referenced previously, shows us the form and the plan of this gate, as well as the nearby aqueduct of the same fountainhead of the Acqua Marcia, Tepula, and Giulia, with the plan of the Porta Maggiore, and of the closed gate, referenced at numbers 18 and 19. The aqueduct, or the remains of this fountainhead, seen inside the aforementioned Porta San Lorenzo, comprises a magnificent monument with restorations to the channels of the aforementioned three aqueducts, as demonstrated in Plate XI of this Volume, at figure I, and as shown in the following inscriptions, which appear on the facade of the same monument. EMPEROR CAESAR AUGUSTUS, SON OF THE DIVINE JULIUS, HIGH PRIEST, CONSUL 12 TIMES, VESTED WITH THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER 19 TIMES, EMPEROR 14 TIMES, REBUILT THE CHANNELS OF ALL THE AQUEDUCTS. EMPEROR CAESAR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS FELIX AUGUSTUS, PARTHICUS MAXIMUS, BRITANNICUS MAXIMUS, HIGH PRIEST, RESTORED THE AQUA MARCIA SINCE IT HAD BEEN BLOCKED BY VARIOUS INCIDENTS. HE CLEANED ITS SOURCE, CUT THROUGH AND PERFORATED MOUNTAINS, RESTORED ITS CHANNEL, AND AFTER ALSO ADDED THE NEW ANTONINE SPRING, AND THUS THE AQUA MARCIA WAS RESTORED TO HIS SACRED CITY. EMPEROR TITUS CAESAR VESPASIAN AUGUSTUS, SON OF THE DIVINE EMPEROR, HIGH PRIEST, VESTED WITH THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER 9 TIMES, EMPEROR 15 TIMES, CENSOR, CONSUL 7 TIMES, DESIGNATED 8 TIMES, RESTORED THE CHANNELS OF THE AQUA MARCIA, DESTROYED BY TIME, AND BROUGHT THE WATER THAT HAD CEASED TO FLOW BACK INTO USE. The first rebuilder, as Frontinus narrates, was Agrippa, who in the inscription honors Augustus. The second was Titus, and the third Caracalla. They, having removed the pediment, of which you can still see the signs as in the aforementioned figure at letter C, had also placed their inscriptions there, thus remaining in between the more ancient inscriptions of Augustus and Titus, and are situated in the places indicated with the letters A and B. The remains of the wall indicated by the letter D on the right side of the monument belonged to a part of a branch of the Acqua Giulia that flowed through a sequence of arches to the fountainhead, noted in the general topographical map at number 230, and as demonstrated in the referenced illustration of the topographical map of aqueducts.
24. Barbican built in courses of tufa, limestone, and tevolozza. Thus, the walls that follow until the number 25 are built in a different manner than those of Aurelian, where one can presume that they were those restored by the previously mentioned Arcadius and Honorius.
25 and 26. One can see in this interval of the walls significant and confusing restorations, possibly built in order to make immediate repairs after their destruction by the Barbarians.
27. Closed gate built by the same emperor, corresponding to two ancient gates, the Porta Viminale and Porta Quequetulana, that were on the earlier ancient walls surrounding the city. Its entrance is on the modern ground level, erected in this place 28 palmi above the ancient ground level. In ancient times the gate adjoined the walls of the Castrum of Tiberius, which are today destroyed. The gate was closed in the time of Constantine, when he erected the walls of the ruins of the same Castrum; and in its place the two gates were opened, which we will discuss later. The ancient Via Tiburtina went through this gate, and its cobblestones still appear next to the gate and proceed for some distance, even though it has been disconnected from the newly raised walls. Plate XXXIX of this volume shows the gate, the walls of Constantine, and the plan of the first form of the Castrum and the remains of the aforementioned street.
28 and 29. Almost until number 30, the walls of Constantine were destroyed by successive sieges, and crudely rebuilt by the Supreme Pontiffs a little outside of their previous position.
30. Curvilinear corner of the walls of Constantine, with barbicans built on the foundations of the Castrum, as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXXIX, at number 7.
31. Closed gate built by Constantine almost in the middle of the front of the Castrum, as one sees in the same Plate at number 8. Its entrance is built on the modern ground level higher than the ancient ground level of the Castrum by around 30 palmi. It was certainly one of the most magnificent gates, even though it was built in tevolozza. It was adorned with pilasters and an architrave, which formed the great arch that has since been closed up by modern builders. On the sides of the now absent pilasters, two wings still remain with some of their residual ornaments.
32. Another curvilinear corner of the walls of Constantine, indicated in the same Plate, also at number 7. This corner is built above a ruin of the Castrum wall, 12 palmi high from the ground, composed of tevolozza, and decorated with arches according to the custom of the time. The walls above the ruin are very finely worked, namely with triangular bricks chiseled in a way that resembles those of Aurelian and fortified every so often with solid barbicans. They were later raised by Belisarius with the addition of new merlons (perhaps because they were too low and thus unsteady) also with the insertion of new towers and new barbicans, fortifications that are, however, very rough and unrefined. Underneath the lower merlons, or rather those of Constantine, one sees a continuous sequence of holes, inside which just as many marble ledges were installed, as one can see from their remains. These must have been built to provide continuous support for the convenience of the defenders of the wall.
33. Closed gate, also built by Constantine. The gate, from the remains of the ornaments that had been removed from it, seems similar to the other gate described above.
34. Towers built by Belisarius in the bizarre style, reinforced by barbicans, which seem to have been imitated in the rampart near Porta San Paolo.
35. Remains of another curvilinear corner of the Castrum, indicated in the aforementioned Plate, also at number 7.
36. Small closed gate, whose style leads one to believe that it was built during the time of Narses.
37. Another closed gate.
38. Remains of two round towers, between which there was also another gate. Having been destroyed, a wall equal in height to the gate was built between the towers by the Supreme Pontiffs. One of these towers can be seen having been built on the mass of an ancient tomb. The same gate, along with the other gate described at number 31, replaced the Porta Nomentana on the previous city walls, on the opposite side.
39. Porta Pia, which is completely modern, was opened by the Supreme Pontiffs instead of the previously described gate.
40. Porta Salaria, so called from the ancient Via Salaria that passed through this gate. It was built by Aurelian in front of the Porta Collina of the previous city walls. It was greatly damaged by the Barbarians, and repaired afterward by Belisarius and by Narses, whose restorations can be recognized. The brickwork above its jambs served to make up for the lack of travertines in the arch. The walls from the Porta Pia until this point were greatly damaged and were thus repaired many times, namely by Arcadius and Honorius, by the aforementioned Captains, and by the Supreme Pontiffs.
41. Round tower, near another gate which was furnished with a new wall by Clement XI, and which was raised to match the height of the remaining city walls. From here until the following gate, the Porta Pinciana, the walls are constructed in a different method from those built by Aurelian, possibly the work of Belisarius.
42. Porta Pinciana, restored by Constantine, and so called from its proximity to the ancient palace of the Roman senator Pincius. This gate was constructed from parts of other buildings, and the sign of the cross was carved in the voussoir in the middle of the arch. One can see holes that were left by the Barbarians in order to remove the joints that held the courses of stone together. Its entrance is very high above the most ancient ground level of Rome, but this fact does not preclude the conclusion that it was built by Aurelian for the reasons explained in number 18, regarding the elevation of the ground level that also occurred in ancient times. The ancient Via Flaminia passed through this gate. One can still see the remains of the pavement not far from the same gate, remains that extend in a long stretch through today’s vineyards of the Carmelitani Scalzi, the Jesuits, and of San Bernardo, where the aforementioned street, going in a roundabout direction, reached the Tiber in the place shown in the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts and passed through to the Milvian Bridge labeled in the same map. Despite being in ruins, the bridge’s remains are nevertheless visible in the Tiber in the Summer, and I observed and recognized that they were one of its piers while proceeding down this street going straight until the Torre di Quinto. Modern writers presume that the street passed through the Porta del Popolo, and that it was also given the name Flaminia from such an assumption, and that it was the same as that today which extends until the Ponte Molle, but the ancient writers lead them to err. Tacitus in book 13 of the Annals, recounting the calumny Graptus, a Freedman, brought against Sulla, says: The Milvian bridge was then a famous haunt of nightly profligacy, and Nero used to go there that he might take his pleasures more freely outside the city. HE WENT BACK BY THE VIA FLAMINIA, and that through the favour of destiny he had escaped it, as HE WENT BY A DIFFERENT WAY TO SALLUST’S GARDENS, Graptus said Sulla was the author of this plot. From which one can clearly understand that the Horti Sallustiani should be coterminous, or at least near to the Via Flaminia, since he imagines that Nero returning there by this Via Flaminia, diverted his journey by entering in the said gardens. This certainly could not have happened if the Via Flaminia had been the same street that today extends in a straight line from the Piazza di Sciarra to the Milvian Bridge for the fact that, since one cannot doubt that the Horti Sallustiani were on the Pincian Hill, and precisely in the place indicated in the aforementioned topographical map of the aqueducts, at numbers 47, 48, 49, and 50, they would have remained so far from this supposed street, as one can see from an ocular inspection of the same Map. Graptus the calumniator would not have been so foolish as to use the gardens for the diversion mentioned above, as, beyond the fact that it would have seemed strange, it would have also been contrary to the explanation given by Tacitus. The same writer also confirms my assumption in book III of the Histories, where while discussing the battle that occurred between the Flavians and Vitellians, he says that the army of the Flavians, finding themselves on the Milvian Bridge, advanced in three parts, one part continued along the Via Flaminia, another part along the bank of the Tiber, and the third advanced on the Porta Collina near the Via Salaria; and that with the objective of going to Rome in order to attack the Vitellians in three parts. From this description one necessarily concludes that if the Via Flaminia was then that same street that today passes through the Porta del Popolo, the said tripartite division of the army would have been in vain, and in consequence the attack against the enemy from three parts would not have taken place, as it happens, for the fact that the squadron which continued along the Via Flaminia, and the other, advanced along the bank of the Tiber, would have necessarily had to reunite in the narrow stretch of the Field that remains close to the aforementioned Porta del Popolo before attacking the enemy separately according to the military campaign. And thus is the vanity of the division of these two squadrons to the Milvian Bridge; which did not in fact take place, as attested by the actual direction of the same street, cited above. Ovid, in the third book of the Fasti, mentioning the second Equirria that was celebrated in the Campus Martius on the 27th of February, sings thus: You will see the horses again on that Field, WHOSE SIDE IS EMBRACED BY THE TIBER’S WINDING WATERS. Here I take the liberty to say that the Campus Martius extended until the Milvian Bridge in ancient times, as revealed by the irrefutable evidence that challenges the common opinion of modern writers, as I proposed at the end of the explanation mentioned above in the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts. In light of the above, and observing the interpretation of the cited verses in Ovid, these do not do anything else but mark the place where the aforementioned Equirria were celebrated. The points indicating this place on the Map are therefore confined to the side of the Field created by the curve of the Tiber. Regarding the entire expanse of the Campus Martius, one does not find such a limited area if not for that of today’s small bank toward the Milvian Bridge, and precisely from the place marked on the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts from number 45 to 46; from which, one must deduce that, having celebrated the Equirria in this narrow channel, it could not have been enough space for the supposed passage of the Via Flaminia.
43. Here are some barbicans of the city walls, similar to those mentioned above at number 45.
44. Here the walls built by Aurelian were in fact destroyed by the Barbarians and rebuilt in the low times in various styles, and especially in the Saracen style, or rather in courses of tufa and other materials arranged in no particular order.
45. Small remains of one of the towers of Aurelian, placed on top of a great ancient foundation, today called the Muro-Torto.
46, 47, and 48. The area of these numbers comprises the remains of the aforementioned foundation enclosing the part of the hills of the Ortuli, on which there was the great Bustum, or Ustrinum, where they cremated the bodies of the Caesars, built by Augustus.
49. Another portion of the Aurelian walls that adjoins the aforementioned remains, and which is similar in form to the modern fortifications.
50. From the aforesaid type of fortification until the Porta del Popolo, the walls are constructed in courses of tufa in the Saracen style.
51. Porta del Popolo built by the Supreme Pontiffs on top of the remains of the gate by Aurelian. From the lateral exterior walls one can see foundations of marble, which supported the towers. These were mistreated by the Barbarians and pierced at the joints in order to insert pins. The openings were then doweled when the same gate was rebuilt.
52. The walls rebuilt by Belisarius continue until the Tiber and were repaired in many instances in successive periods.
53. Indicates the site of the triumphal gate of Aurelian, which is completely leveled today, along with the walls, indicated with preceding and subsequent points on the Map.
54. Noted here is the site of the Porta Aurelia, which has also been leveled.
55. The Aurelian walls extended until this point.
56. Remains of the walls on the other side of the Tiber built by Aurelian, today consisting of a deformed composite of different restorations both ancient and modern. Among the ancient restorations were those by Arcadius and Honorius, as one can deduce from the referenced inscriptions underneath the preceding number 18. These were also located on the Porta Portuense, built by the same Aurelian, whose remains can still be found on the bank of Tiber in the place marked in the present General Topography by the asterisk, and precisely between fragments 32 and 33 in the borders of the ancient plan of Rome seen here. Leaving behind, then, the restorations that could have been added after Arcadius and Honorius by the Curators of the city, referenced at the beginning of this Index, one must include those restorations made by Pope Alexander VI, since they had already rebuilt today’s Porta Settimiana, corresponding to the Ponte Sisto and called in ancient times the Janiculense, as one can better see in the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts, at Plate XXXVIII of this Volume. From one part to another, or rather from the Porta Portuense to the Porta Settimiana, these walls extend until today’s Porta di San Pancrazio, outside of which, beyond the gate of the Villa Corsini, there are still remains of the foundations of the ancient fountainhead of the Acqua Alsietina, which I demonstrate in Plate XII of this same Volume, at figure I. This fountainhead continued through the aforementioned Porta di San Pancrazio toward its Emissarium and the corresponding Naumachia of Augustus, as referenced below at number 156 of this Index, and in the explanation of the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts, related to the Commentary of Frontinus, summarized therein.
57. Here Urban VIII began the part of the perimeter of his city walls, demolishing the ancient Porta Portuense, and instead opening the modern gate of his successor Innocent X.
58. The repetition of this number outlines the perimeter of the city walls expanded by the same Urban VIII.
59. Walls and Gate of Porta di Santo Spirito built by Pius IV and rendered obsolete by the construction of the aforementioned perimeter.
60. Portion of the walls built by Saint Leo IV in the Saracen style, or rather in small courses of tufa, in the year 849.
61. Another portion of the same walls, also rendered obsolete, as we have said at number 59.
62. The remaining walls are all modern and built by the Supreme Pontiffs, successors of the aforementioned Saint Leo.
63. Fortifications of today’s Castel Sant’Angelo. Having completed the exterior perimeter of the city walls, we will enter through the Porta del Popolo to search for ancient monuments, between these walls and the circumference of the points marked with the letter A, which outline the most ancient perimeter of the City Walls.
64. Remains of the Sepulcher of the family of Augustus, where the Cenci Garden is today.
65. Remains of another Sepulcher of the same family in today’s Nari Garden, contiguous to the aforementioned garden.
66. Remains of the celebrated Horti Luculliani, which are located today in the Palazzo Mignanelli. These gardens extended above the Hill of the Ortuli in the area delineated in the cited Map of the Aqueducts, at number 39.
67. Remains of the Mausoleum of Augusts, referenced in the previous numbers 46, 47, and 48. Its walls are reticulated and filled in horizontally of opus incertum. One finds the ancient entrance of said Mausoleum near the church of San Rocco in a room made of wood. It is stripped of all its marble and its remains are altered in its structure from its original state. In the middle of these remains is a hanging garden belonging to Marquis Correa. I illustrate the same Mausoleum in detail in Plates LXI, LXII, and LXIII of Volume II. On the bank of the Tiber in front of the same Mausoleum one can see the outlet of one of the sewers of the Acqua Vergine built by Agrippa.
68. Lying on this site, which is today occupied by the cellars belonging to the Augustinian monks of the church of Madonna del Popolo, is an Obelisk that is almost completely buried, which served as the gnomon of the sundial in the Campus Martius. In 1748 Pope Benedict XIV had it excavated, along with its pedestal, and transported it to the adjacent Palazzo of the so-called Vignaccia. On the same pedestal one reads the following inscription: THE EMPEROR CAESAR AUGUSTUS, SON OF THE DIVINE, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, EMPEROR FOR THE TWELFTH TIME, CONSUL FOR THE ELEVENTH TIME, VESTED WITH THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER FOR THE FOURTEENTH TIME, WITH EGYPT BROUGHT UNDER THE DOMINION OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE, GAVE THIS AS A GIFT TO THE SUN. The iron hooks found in the same pedestal were inserted by modern builders to facilitate its extraction and transport.
69. Remains of the Arch of Marcus Aurelius in the Palazzo Amadei on the Via del Corso, demolished by Pope Alexander VII, who transferred the bas-reliefs to the Stairs of the Palace of the Conservators on the Campidoglio.
70. Remains, in the cellars of the monastery of San Silvestro in Capite, of the walls of the Septi Trigarii that had been previously restored and decorated by Domitian.
71. Remains of the Portico of Europa close to the church of Santa Maria in Via.
72. The beginning of the arcade of the Ancient Aqueduct of the Acqua Vergine in the palace toward the church of Santissimi Angioli Custodi, and precisely behind the Collegio Nazareno. The points that extend until number 44 denote the subterranean channel of the same Aqueduct inside of Rome. Its supplement is shown in the Topographical Map of the Aqueducts.
73. The continuation of this same arcade from an adjoining courtyard to the Palazzo del Bufalo toward the Palazzo Pamphili up until the reservoir of today’s Trevi Fountain. Having been destroyed by Caligula, this arcade was rebuilt by Claudius, as shown in the following inscription that can be read on the large frieze of one of the arches, distinct for its wide form constructed by the aforementioned restorer. TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS CAESAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS, SON OF DRUSUS, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, IN HIS FIFTH YEAR OF TRIBUNICIAN POWER, EMPEROR ELEVEN TIMES, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, CONSUL DESIGNATE FOR THE FOURTH TIME, RENEWED AND RESTORED FROM THEIR FOUNDATIONS THE ARCADES OF THE ACQUA VERGINE, SINCE THEY HAD BEEN KNOCKED DOWN BY GAIUS CAESAR. They were subsequently covered with tevolozza from one part to the other, as demonstrated in Plate XII, at figure II. This aqueduct is illustrated in detail in the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts.
74. Monte Citorio. This is a mass of ruins of the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus, and other ancient buildings in the vicinity. One can firstly deduce that the remains belong to the same amphitheater from the circular seating banks and from other remains of the ancient building found 100 palmi underneath the hill, since these laid the foundations of today’s Palace of the Papal Curia, which gives the site its name of Citatorio or Citorio. Second: from the circular perimeter of the same palace, which is situated on top of one part of the foundations of the amphitheater. Third: from other similar seats found 80 palmi underneath the same hill in the excavation made in the year 1705, when they laid the foundations of the church and of the houses of the Signori della Missione. And fourth, from the ancient ground level on top of which the Column of the Apotheosis, or Deification of Antoninus Pius, was situated, which was found in the same excavation 100 palmi further underneath the modern ground level.
75. Antonine Column, located in the middle of the piazza, from which the piazza takes its name Colonna, and which is demonstrated in Plate XIII of this Volume, at figure I. It was sculpted in bands of reliefs from the top to the bottom, showing the battles and the Victory over the Germans and the Sarmatians by Marcus Aurelius. The column was erected by Marcus Aurelius and dedicated to his father Antoninus Pius. The column has an internal winding stairway illuminated by embrasures, where one can ascend to the floor of the great column capital. Pope Sixtus V, among the other restorations made to this monument, had the ancient pedestal, which had been damaged by fire, covered with marble and had the bronze statue of St. Paul placed on the top of the column.
76. Remains of one of the lateral parts of the Portico surrounding the Cella of the Temple of the same Antoninus Pius. Its plan and elevation can be seen in the architectural treatise by Andrea Palladio, which he created from the remains that, in his time, existed in such copious quantities that it was possible to portray the perfect drawing of it. Today’s remains consist of eleven columns of variegated marble, damaged by fire, which have been incorporated into the modern walls of the facade of the Customs Office, as seen in the aforementioned Plate XIII, at figure II. Some have falsely believed that this Portico was a remnant of the buildings of the Forum of Marcus Aurelius.
77. Eight columns of vast size which are illustrated in Plate XIV of this Volume, at figure I. Seven of these are made of cipollino marble and are of the same thickness of those of the Pronaos of the Pantheon. They are partially incorporated into the walls of the small courtyard in the palace belonging to the Confraternity of the Rosary opposite the Teatro Capranica, and partly in the surrounding houses, and especially in the store of the Soap maker. The columns belonged to the Temple of Juturna. The eighth column is made of granite and incorporated into a wall of the next street, Vicolo Spada, which from said piazza leads to the street Vicolo de’ Pastini. This column belonged to the ancient Fountain of the Acqua Vergine, and thus one can see the recess for a perpendicular pipe that discharged water. 78. Remains of the later walls of the great vestibule of the Pantheon, corresponding to other remains that today have been removed, and part of which are noted in the map of Rome by Bufalini, and part of which are referenced by Falconieri in his treatise on the Pyramid of Gaius Cestius. These remains can be seen in the courtyard of houses situated on the left of the same Temple toward the fountain of the Piazza della Rotonda. 79. Pantheon, or rather the Temple of Jupiter Ultor, consisting of a magnificent Cella and of a majestic Pronaos, as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XIV, at figure II. The Pantheon was built by Marcus Agrippa, as seen in the following inscription carved on the frieze of the same Pronaos, noted in said figure at the letter A. BUILT BY MARCUS AGRIPPA, SON OF LUCIUS, CONSUL THREE TIMES. The Pantheon was later restored by the Emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla, as appears in the following inscription that one reads on the band of the Architrave of the same Pronaos, noted with the letter B. EMPEROR CAESAR SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS PIUS PERTINAX, VICTOR OF ARABIA, ADIABENE, AND PARTHIA, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS VESTED WITH TRIBUNICIAN POWER, EMPEROR ELEVEN TIMES, CONSUL THREE TIMES, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, PROCONSUL, AND EMPEROR CAESAR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS FELIX AUGUSTUS, TRIBUNE FIVE TIMES, CONSUL, PROCONSUL, HAVE RESTORED THE PANTHEON WITH ALL ITS BEAUTY AND REFINEMENT, RUINED BY OLD AGE. This, according to the description of ancient writers, was one of the most splendid Temples, and is the only monument of ancient magnificence to have remained intact in its principal parts. Its walls are of a portentous girth, built of opus incertum and reinforced every four palmi with a bed of Tiles. The walls are rendered even more stable by the construction of a series of arches, also composed of Tiles, as demonstrated in the aforementioned image, at letter C, and by being covered with triangular tiles of tevolozza on the exterior. The Pronaos has sixteen large columns of oriental granite of varying width. It was covered with beams and coffers of bronze, which were removed during the time of Urban VIII and melted down to form the Reliquary of Saints Peter and Paul in the Vatican Basilica, being replaced by wooden beams and bricks. On the tympanum of the facade, labelled with the letter D, are a large number of holes, in which metal pins were inserted in order to hold up a bas-relief that was also made of bronze. The interior and exterior walls of the same Pronaos, in between the pilasters, were covered with marble slabs with different types of friezes, which were excellently carved with lightning bolts, roundels, candelabra, helmets, and other symbols that alluded to the deities Jupiter and Mars. The slabs themselves were also decorated with two large lateral niches at the great entrance of the Temple, as demonstrated in Plate XV of this Volume at figure I with the letter E. In one of the niches was the Statue of Augustus, and in the other the statue of Agrippa. The Temple’s ancient floor, now absent, covered part of the bottom edge of the bases of the aforementioned columns, signs of which still appear, in such a way that the bases of the columns were built into the floor; such that the modern floor remains much lower and is constructed in part with some of the residual ancient slabs and in part with bricks. Then the entrance of the Temple, instead of having pins affixed to the walls to sustain the bronze doors, as is done today, had pins affixed to the interior corners of each jamb, which are now bare, and a large bronze sheet was hung from the top to the bottom of the entrance. Thus, one enters the Temple, whose floor is much lower than that of the Pronaos: a custom of the Ancients to make the entrance appear monumental and majestic. One can observe that the walls are covered in marble with tabernacles, and placed in between them are apses with an architrave supported by columns of ancient yellow variegated marble. The bottom edges of the bases were built into the floor, as we said shortly before, although some idiotically believe that they were raised, without considering that this was a custom of the time to give solemnity to the columns. It has a curved vault with sections, which were lined with silver metal sheets according to ancient tradition. The interior view of the same Temple is illustrated in the aforementioned Plate, at figure II, where the construction of the column bases is noted with the letter F. Modern writers give several reasons to question who the founder of this Temple was. The first reason is that it is disconnected from the Pronaos, which seems to have been built in a later period; the second is their weak observation that the architecture of the Temple seems inferior to that of the Pronaos; and the third is a passage from Cassius Dio, in the fifty-third book of the History of Rome, where he says Ἀγρίππας; ecc. τότε Πάνθειον ecc. εξετέλεσε: they assert that the word εξετέλεσε in Greek means nothing other than perfected, implying that Agrippa was not its founder, but that he had only perfected the Pantheon with the addition of the Pronaos; they claim with unfounded sophisms that the aforementioned inscription, which one reads on the frieze of the Pronaos itself, is false: BUILT BY Marcus Agrippa, Son of Lucius, Consul Three Times. They also doubt the equally precise assertion of Pliny in chapter 15 of book 36: Pantheon of Jupiter Ultor BUILT by Agrippa. I, however, in response to these sophistic claims, argue that regarding the first, the disconnect between the Pronaos and Temple, which suggests that they were built in different times, does not mean that the founder of either was different, as it is possible that Agrippa had built the Temple without the intention of adorning it with a Pronaos, but in completing it, he perhaps thought to add the Pronaos to the Temple. Regarding the second claim about the architecture of the Temple and Pronaos, any trained architect, seeing that they share the same moulding, and thus, recognizing their same excellence, cannot take seriously the incompetent judgement of such writers regarding the supposed difference between them. Regarding the third reason on the aforementioned passage in Cassius Dio, the word εξετέλεσε, on which the strength of their entire argument is built, in its most precise definition means completed, which does not imply that Agrippa could not have built and completed the Pantheon. The reason that Cassius Dio did not say built but completed, a reason that has not been examined by these same writers, derives from his previous words: Ἀγρίππας δὲ ἕν τούτω τὸ ἄςυ τοῖς ἰδίοις τέλεσιν ἐπεκόσμησε Agrippa, at the same time, adorned the city with his own funds: after which the words appear: τότε Πάνθειον ἐξετέλεσε: and he completed the Pantheon: this historian could not say built, because it was not true that Agrippa had built the Pantheon at the time determined in the preceding words, that is, in the year 727 of Rome, since he was Consul the third time when he built the Pantheon. In fact, Cassius Dio says later: Hβουληθη μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἀγρίππας καὶ τὸν Αῦγουστο ενταῦθα ίδρύσαι τὴν τε τοῦ έργου έπίκλησιν αύτω δουναι μή δεξαμενου δὲ αύτου μηδέτερον, ἐκεῖ μὲν τοῦ προτέρου Καίσαρος ἐν δὲ τῷ προνάω τοῦ τε Αὑγούστου καὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἀνδράντας ἔστησε: Agrippa then wanted to place there (in the Pantheon) a statue of Augustus, and to write his name for having done that work, but because he (Augustus) did not accept either of these things, (Agrippa) placed the statue of the first Caesar in the Temple, and then placed in the Pronaos ones of Augustus and himself; what else could it tell us if not that Agrippa wanted to bestow the glory of having built the temple to Augustus. Placing the statue of this prince and himself in the same temple would have expressed a despotism that would not have been acceptable had he not been the founder. 80. Remains of walls belonging to the Xystus built by the same Agrippa, which adjoin the rear of said temple, and which were turned into a bakery and other modern buildings, also adjoined to the same temple. 81. Other remains of said Xystus, in today’s nearby palace of the Accademia Ecclesiastica. 82. Remains of the Baths of the same Agrippa, now called the Arch of Ciambella. 83. One of the capitals of the columns that belonged to the cella of the Temple of Minerva built by Pompey the Great, located in the store of the Carriagemaker behind the Chapel of the Annunciation in the Church of Santa Maria, thus called above Minerva or Santa Maria sopra Minerva. 84. Remains of the Baths of Nero in the courtyard of the Palazzo Madama, which were joined to buildings in the Field of Agrippa. These remains are currently being dismantled to expand the storehouses of said palazzo, recently bought for the offices of the Pontifical Datary. 85 and 86. The lines drawn here indicate the houses that surround today’s piazza Navona, and that are built on the foundations of the seats of the ancient Circus Agonalis. 87. Small remains of a wall belonging to the buildings that surrounded the Campus Martius. These are located on the street of the so-called Granaries.
88. Remains of one of the piers of the Ponte Trionfale composed of large travertines, peperino, and opus incertum. One can see this ruin on the bank of the Tiber, very visible in the summertime, and it is illustrated in Plate XIII of Volume IV. 89. Bridge of Hadrian, today called Ponte Sant’Angelo. 90. Remains of the great tomb of the Mausoleum of Hadrian, today called the Tower of Castel Sant’Angelo. I illustrate in detail both this and the aforementioned bridge in Volume IV from Plate IV to XII. 91. Remains in the Tiber of some walls built in the low times. Modern writers suppose that they were part of the Ponte Trionfale; but, other than the remains that are indisputably part of this bridge in the location referenced in number 88, which I have examined many times, and given their arrangement in the depths of the riverbed, they do not suggest, to me, the slightest indication of being part of a bridge. Rather, the ruins consist of a type of round marker, and are located in the shoddy remains of a house that in no account could have formed the piers of a bridge. Today, these remains serve to direct the current of the Tiber for the use of today’s mills placed on the boats. 92. Remains of some seating banks of the lower circumference of the Theater of Pompey, which I illustrate in Volume IV at Plate XXXVIII, and which correspond to the plan of the same theater. These ruins can still be seen in the fragment of the ancient Map of Rome, marked around number 22 of the present Topography. These are made of opus reticulatum and are located in today’s palace of Duke Grillo in the Campo de’ Fiori, in the Baker’s shop in the so-called Paradise neighborhood, in the Tavern, and in the shop of the Ropemaker, and in other shops in between, forming a circular perimeter on the right of said palace, and the Piazza de’ Satiri. 93. Ponte Sisto built by Pope Sixtus IV on the ruins of the ancient Janiculum. 94. Remains of the interior of the Temple of Apollo, once adjoined to the Circus Flaminius. They consist of a portion of the circular part, in which there were some Ionic columns in half relief, and having already been destroyed by fire, they were covered with stucco in an excellent manner by the ancients. These remains can be seen in the small courtyard of the Somascan Fathers of the church of San Niccolò a Cesarini. 95. Remnant of the Portico of Philip which remain on the left side of the facade of the church of Santa Maria in Cacaberis. Modern writers suppose that it is the Portico of Gnaeus Octavius. However, relating a passage from Pliny, where he describes that the Portico of Octavius was called Corinthian from the bronze capitals of the columns, disproves their argument because the columns of the Portico in question remaining today have Doric capitals made of travertine, as I demonstrate in Volume IV in Plate XLVI. That this Portico was in fact of Philip I will demonstrate in the large Map of Ancient Rome that I am about to publish. 96. Remains, or one of the seating banks of the Theater of Balbus, in the tavern under Palazzo Cenci on the street near the gate of the Ghetto in the Regula neighborhood, and precisely near the mill on the Tiber. The hill, on which the same palazzo is situated, was formed by the ruins of the same theater. One observes that the street of the same Regula seems to give an indication of the perimeter of the theater’s circumference. One can see many pieces of columns, capitals, and other ornaments, which probably belonged to the aforementioned theater, in the nearby shops as well. 97. Remains of the Temple of Piety built on top of the prison of Claudius. These consist of some columns of peperino and show that they had once been covered with stucco. The columns remain incorporated into the walls of the Church of San Niccolò in Carcere. 98. Bank of the Tiber made of peperino, which supports the pier of one of the arches of the Ponte Fabricio. This was built by Augustus at the same time as the Theater of Marcellus, and consequently after the construction of the bridge, as noted in Volume IV at Plate XX. 99. Remains of the aforementioned theater, today called Monte Savelli, on top of which the Palazzo Orsini is situated. The exterior was composed of four orders. The two upper levels are completely destroyed. Part of the two lower levels that form the porticoes around the theater still exist and one sees that they are built in large travertines. The voussoirs of
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the same theater, which supported the seats and stairs to exit into the vomitoria, are constructed of opus reticulum, and every so often tied to pieces of peperino. In the basement of the nearby Tavern of the Bell, one sees a course with gates that led to the vomitoria of the Equestrian order. Under the same course there are streets for the Senators to pass through to the orchestra. These streets, as well as the stairs of the voussoirs and the same course, were separated and organized in such a way that none of the orders, the Senatorial, Equestrian, and Plebian, would cross in entering and exiting the theater, as I demonstrate in Volume IV from Plate XXV to Plate XXXVII. 100. Remains of the Portico built by Augustus in honor of Octavia his sister and later restored by Septimius Severus and Caracalla after having been damaged by fire. These remains surround today’s Church of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria. Modern writers claim that this portico was located at San Niccolò in Carcere in the place indicated at number 97, where I have said the remains of the Temple of Piety are located. They also suppose, without any fundamental reason, that the present remains belonged to the Temple of Bellona, or of Juno, while disproving their own supposition by confessing that according to the ancient writers, said portico extended near the Circus Flaminius. And, that this is true, it suffices to observe the incompatibility of their proposed location with such an extensive area given the fact that the portico would begin, as they would have it, from the aforementioned number 97 until the Circus Flaminius, which without a doubt is located between the numbers 94, 95, 101, and 102. Their proposal would require that the Theater of Marcellus, noted with the number 99, did not exist, nor the Tarpeian Rock or the Tiber, which do not leave any trace in this supposed extension of the area, and, in addition to this fact, the portico would have been exceptional and disproportionate. The fact that these remains belonged to the Portico appears to be debatable due to its architectural plan in one of the fragments of the ancient Map of Rome, which I marked in the border of the present Topography with the number 18; having compared the remains in question with the plan in the Ancient Map of Rome and the other that consists of three columns and is indicated with number 101 in this Index, I have recognized the precise corresponding arrangement of the form and distance, which has provided me with a solid reason to believe that the present remains belonged to the same portico, as I demonstrate in Volume IV from Plate XXXIX to XLIV. 101. Three large columns of striated marble, which formed one of the corners of the Pronaos of the Temple of Juno, built by Metellus the Macedonian, as one observes in the previously mentioned fragment of the ancient Map of Rome marked in the border of the present Topography with the number 18. These columns remain today in the houses behind the Church of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria and they are illustrated, as I have said, in the aforementioned Plates belonging to the Portico of Octavia, and in Plate XLV following them. 102. Remains of the School of Octavia, which one sees in the Palazzo Altieri in Piazza Morgana, and in the basements of the Monastery of the Fathers of Santa Maria in Campitelli. 103. Remains of the Portico of Neptune, on which the Church and Palace of San Marco are situated. 104. Remains of the pilasters of the Portico before the pales or the Saepta Julia, constructed from travertines by Lepidus, and proportioned by Marcus Agrippa, demonstrated in Volume IV at Plate XLVII, and recognized as such by comparing them to the fragments in the ancient Map of Rome, labeled with the numbers 31 and 32 in the border of the present Topography. These are located in the basements of the Palazzo Pamphili on the Via del Corso. 105. Other remains of the same pilasters covered with tevolozza after they were constructed. These are located underneath the Church of Santa Maria in Via Lata. 106. Remains of magnificent stairs at the foot of the Quirinal, and precisely in the garden of the Colonna family. On these stairs one ascended to the magnificent building of Elagabalus, joined to a Temple that has been completely destroyed, some marble fragments of which are also located in the same garden. Modern writers claim that these remains were a part of the Baths of Constantine and of Constantius because their statues were discovered while the Palazzo Rospigliosi was being built. But observing the incredibly fine materials that remain of said Temple today suffices to change their minds, as well as the consideration that said statues were discovered in the excavation made in the courtyard of the aforementioned Palazzo, which is a place that is very remote from the aforementioned remains. 107. Remains of the House of the Cornelius made of opus reticulatum in the Palace of the Colonna in the Piazza della Pilotta. 108. Remains of buildings underground, belonging to the Old Campidoglio where the Palazzo Grimani is situated today, on the Strada Rosella. 109. Remains of the Portico of the Miliarense of Aurelian, in the Villa Cesi. 110. A small remnant of the foundations, or perhaps cladding, that were at the foot of the Quirinal Hill to reinforce the city walls before the new perimeter of Aurelian, which passed through the same slope. These remain in the gardens of the Madonna della Vittoria toward Villa Barberini. 111. Another remnant of the same foundations consisting of a long, massive wall fortified with thick barbicans from the top to the bottom, as demonstrated in Plate XVI of the present Volume, at figure I. This remnant remains in the Villa Mandosi near the Porta Salaria. Between the aforementioned massive wall and the Circus Apollinare, indicated in the same figure, was the street that leads to the Forum of Sallust. 112. Remains of the House, and of the Baths of said Sallust, also demonstrated in the aforementioned figure. The reservoirs that received the drainage of the roof also remain there, and a staircase, painted with grotesques, by which one ascended to the upper floors, as well as an octagonal building believed to be one of the temples of Venus based on the evidence of a Statue of the Deity that was found there. 113. Remains of the ancient buildings at the foot of the Hills of the Ortuli, which were a part of the mentioned Circus Apollinare. 114. Remains of the Horti Sallustiani today used for the underground cellars of the Villa Belloni. Excavations uncovered some marvelous things, like those that were found in the following Villa. 115. Another remainder of the same Gardens in the Villa Verospi. In the year 1745 this Villa was partially dug up near the city walls, and in demolishing some of the buildings, some statues, bas-reliefs, some pieces of columns, and many capitals of various types among other rarities were discovered. 116. In this place, which is now the vineyard of the Novitiate of the Jesuit Priests behind the Baths of Diocletian, was, as I have said in the preceding number 2, the Castrum of Tiberius, demonstrated in the plan view in Plate XXXIX of this volume. Constantine had destroyed it when he had defeated Maxentius the tyrant. The city walls were later raised on top of its ruins, within which there was a long series of houses made with materials from the same Castrum, perhaps for his soldier’s quarters. The remains of these houses start from number 29 and extend to number 34. These are constructed of opus reticulatum, but the stones are badly connected, and are similar to those that, until the times of Caracalla, no longer appeared in ancient buildings, when they thus went into disuse, and were no longer studied by architects in the long years between the empire of Caracalla and that of Constantine; and it is for no other reason that the ruins of reticulated stone were reused in the houses discussed here than for the convenience and large quantity of tiles of similar type employed in the ruins of said Castrum. 117. Remains of the Fountainhead and progression of the Aqueducts of the Marcia, Tepula, and Giulia, referenced previously under number 23. It shouldn’t seem strange to see a wall here made of tevolozza - different than the extant remains of the same Fountainhead made of blocks of tufa, peperino, and travertines - because it is a part of the double layer that was made by some of the Emperors referenced in the inscription on the monument, also indicated in number 23, or by others in later periods, in order to restore the ruins of the fountainhead. One can see this double layer construction primarily outside of the Porta Maggiore on the corner of the city walls indicated at number 20. Then entering Rome, and walking along the section of the walls at the points indicating the remains of the same Fountainhead before and after the number 21, one can see the remains incorporated in the aforementioned walls, which continue until number 120, where the exterior layer ends and where the said monument was left bare. Then, this layer starts again, as I have recognized in a storeroom, or a grotto of the gatekeeper of Porta San Lorenzo, where the arches of the Fountainhead are doubly trussed. These correspond to the straight line of remains appearing in the wall of the Gentili gardens, on top of which rests the progression of arches of today’s Aqueduct of the Acqua Felice. 118. Other remains of the same Fountainhead also covered with tevolozza and supported by barbicans. These can be seen next to and under the Casino of the Gentili family and are illustrated in number 4 at figure I of the aforementioned Plate XI in this Volume. 119. Here are two channels, or canals, of the Aqueducts of the Acqua Tepula and Giulia that divert from the Fountainhead of the Acqua Marcia, as demonstrated in the plan of the same figure I, at letter F. This diversion was probably constructed to make a section of the aqueduct flow above the exterior structure of the Fountainhead of the Marcia, today incorporated within the city walls, in order to lighten the weight of the same Fountainhead, where it was probably weakened. The section of this diversion could not have extended beyond the two borders referenced in the present number 119, and 20, because in those locations one can see the aforementioned two channels passing through the Acqua Marcia. 120. Remains of the exterior structure of the same Fountainhead, which I recognized as such from the remains and ruins of the same, which are located at the same height as the surface of the modern ground level of Rome. 121. Reservoir belonging to the branch of one part of the Aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia in the rivus Herculaneus, and that in ancient times was located behind the Horti Pallantiani, as I explain in the description of the Topographical Map of the Aqueducts under 26, at Note 17, in correlation to Frontinus’s Commentary. In addition to observing the plan of this reservoir in the aforementioned figure I of Plate XI of this Volume, at letter F, one can also see in the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts, at number 22, where a portion of its water was derived; and in the same Map of the Aqueducts the cross-section of the reservoir is also made at figure II with an explanation of the site today, which is partly filled with ruins, partly destroyed, and partly blocked by a pilaster of the modern Fountainhead of the Acqua Felice. 122. Remains of the Fountainhead from one part of the Aqueduct of the Aqua Giulia in the Vineyard of the Celestine Monks. This, according to Frontinus’s Commentary, derived a part of the Acqua Giulia from the principal Fountainhead, on which the Marcia, Tepula, and Giulia itself flowed, and brought the waters to the Castrum marked with number 230, as I further demonstrate at this same number indicated below; thus, the waters of the aqueduct were distributed to the Caelian Hill. 123. Remains, in the Villa Magnani at the Porta Maggiore, of the Temple of Minerva Medica, which is octagonal in form, as demonstrated in Plate XVI of this Volume, at figure II. Here one can see some remains of walls, which, by investing around its lower part and removing the prospect, allow us to recognize that they were built after the construction of the Temple. 124. Remains of the principal Castellum of the Acqua Claudia and Anione Nuovo, where the house of the winemaker Marco Belardi is currently located. In ancient times it was at the extremity of the series of arches of the Aqueduct and behind the Horti Pallantiani, as demonstrated in the Map of Aqueducts, and in the explanation of the same, relative to the aforementioned Commentary of Frontinus. Figure I of Plate XVII of this Volume represents the same remains in their simplicity. In repairing said house some cavities were seen inside the remains that indicate the progression of the fistulas that distributed the water throughout the city. Between this castellum and the monument of the Acqua Claudia referenced in the subsequent number 129, and precisely in the Vineyard of Francesco Belardi, a large quantity of stones of tufa and peperino was discovered in ploughing the land, that Ficoroni leads us to believe were remains of the ancient Porta Esquilina. But having personally questioned the aforementioned Francesco Belardi on the discovery of such stones, I was assured (when he indicated to me the place where they were uncovered) that these consisted of six large pilasters, placed in an orderly arrangement. Hence, there is every reason to argue that these could not have belonged to the proposed Gate, even if a different method of construction was used, but rather, they undoubtedly must be remains of the referenced Aqueduct that, from the Monument indicated below, carried water to the aforementioned Castellum; and furthermore, Belardi added that there are still ruins of the same pilasters yet to be excavated near said Castellum, in which there also appear signs, or cavities, incorporated into the stone courses of the pilasters of the same Aqueduct, as demonstrated in the same figure. 125. Remains in the aforementioned Villa Magnani of the Nymphaeum of Septimius Severus in which fistulas and other openings for the passage of water appear. 126. Remains of a Funerary Chamber in the same Villa. There are also Columbaria in this chamber used by different plebian families, as is better explained and demonstrated in Volume II from Plate VII to Plate XV. 127. Another Funerary Chamber of the Arruntius family also in this Villa. There are also some Columbaria in the walls of this chamber and very fine stucco work in the vault; all of this is demonstrated in Volume II from Plate VII to XV. 128. Remains of a water receptacle, which, from the poor manner of its construction, one can recognize was // made long after the construction of the Aqueducts. This might have received a portion of the water from the Aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia, which passed nearby. 129. Monument in the form of a triumphal arch incorporating the Aqueducts of the Acqua Claudia and Anione Nuovo mentioned above, as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XVII of this Volume, at figure II. Appearing across three vast levels of this Monument are the following three inscriptions. The first denotes the great work by Claudius, which directed these waters in two separate canals, one on top of the other. The second, the restoration of the Aqueduct made by Vespasian. And the third, that of Titus. TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS CAESAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS, THE SON OF DRUSUS, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, IN HIS TWELFTH YEAR OF TRIBUNICIAN POWER, CONSUL FOR THE FIFTH TIME, EMPEROR TWENTY SEVEN TIMES, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, SAW TO IT THAT, AT HIS OWN EXPENSE, THE AQUEDUCT OF THE AQUA CLAUDIA BE BROUGHT FROM THE 45TH MILESTONE, FROM THE SPRINGS THAT ARE CALLED THE CAERULEUS AND CURTIUS, AND THE AQUEDUCT OF THE ANIO NOVUS BE BROUGHT FROM THE 62ND MILESTONE INTO THE CITY OF ROME. THE EMPEROR CAESAR VESPASIAN AUGUSTUS, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, IN HIS SECOND YEAR OF THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER, EMPEROR SIX TIMES, CONSUL DESIGNATE FOR THE FOURTH TIME, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, AT HIS OWN EXPENSE RESTORED FOR THE CITY OF ROME THE CURTIAN AND CAERULEAN WATERS THAT HAD BEEN BROUGHT FORTH BY THE DIVINE CLAUDIUS AND SUBSEQUENTLY HAD FALLEN INTO DISREPAIR AND HAD BEEN INTERRUPTED FOR NINE YEARS. THE EMPEROR TITUS CAESAR VESPASIAN AUGUSTUS, SON OF THE DIVINE VESPASIAN, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, IN HIS TENTH YEAR OF THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER, EMPEROR FOR THE SEVENTEENTH TIME, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, CENSOR, CONSUL FOR THE EIGHTH TIME, SAW TO IT THAT, AT HIS OWN EXPENSE, THE CURTIAN AND CAERULEAN WATERS THAT HAD BEEN BROUGHT FORTH BY THE DIVINE CLAUDIUS AND AFTERWARDS HAD BEEN RESTORED FOR THE CITY OF ROME BY THE DIVINE VESPASIAN, HIS FATHER, SINCE THEY HAD FALLEN INTO DISREPAIR AT THE SOURCE OF THE WATERS FROM THE VERY FOUNDATION BECAUSE OF AGE, BE BROUGHT BACK AGAIN BUT IN A NEW CHANNEL. Some modern writers have incorrectly named this Monument a Castellum, but there is no reservoir for which they could give it such a name. The monument was built after the construction of the Aqueduct and was built by Titus in this location at the intersection of the the Via Labicana and Via Prenestina, as demonstrated in the Map of the Aqueducts at number 17, in order to best display the aforementioned inscriptions, which can be confirmed by the fact that it was the custom of the ancients to provide a magnificent view of the Aqueducts from the public streets. But this monument has been much debilitated by the tunnel built under the pontificate of Sixtus V, and by the thickness of its arches, which was due to the carelessness of the architect, so that the modern Aqueduct of the Aqua Felice could pass through it. 130. Neronian Arches, which took a portion of water from the Acqua Claudia and ended at the Temple of Claudius on the Caelian Hill, distributing the water to the same Hill, and to Nymphaeum of Nero, as well as to the Palatine and Aventine, by a series of arches, as demonstrated in the Map of the Aqueducts relative to Frontinus’s commentary. The convergence of the aforementioned arches with the Fountainhead of the Acqua Claudia is demonstrated in plan form in the aforementioned figure II in Plate XVII of this Volume, at letter E. 131. Remains of the Pool, or rather Tepidarium, of the Baths of St. Helen in the Villa Conti, where the following truncated inscription appears: OUR VENERABLE RULER HELENA ... MOTHER OF CONSTANTINE AUGUSTUS, GRANDMOTHER OF ... BATHS ... Despite the fact that the fragments of this Inscription are barely connected, one can still see its location on the wall. 132. Remains of the same Villa of the buildings in the ancient Horti Torquatiani marked in the Map of the Aqueducts at number 2, according to Frontinus’s Commentary. 133. Arches of the above mentioned Aqueducts of the Acqua Claudia and Anione Nuovo in the vineyard of the Fathers of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, near the city walls, as demonstrated in the aforementioned Map of the Aqueducts. Below this number there is a reservoir with some fistulas, which probably served to distribute the Water for the service of private parties as Frontinus himself says. 134. Remains of the Temple of Speranza Vecchia in the same vineyard, marked in the Map of the Aqueducts in correlation to Frontinus’s Commentary, and demonstrated in Plate XVII of this Volume, at figure I. 135. Remains of the Sessorium, where the people used to stay before gathering for the spectacles of the nearby Castrense Amphitheater. The Cloister of the same Fathers of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was constructed on top of the ruins of this Sessorium. 136. Remains of the Castrense Amphitheater previously referenced in number 15. 137. Remains of the Severan Baths in the Vineyard of the Nuns of the Church of Santi Domenico e Sisto. 138. Ruins of the Funerary Chambers of plebian families in the Passerini Vineyard. 139. Remains of other Funerary Chambers on the street that leads to the Porta Latina. 140. Remains of other similar Chambers on the street that leads to Porta San Sebastiano, and on the borders of the Moroni Vineyards. 141. Sepulchral remains near the Casali Vineyard. In excavating this Vineyard, many tombs were found and destroyed, among them a magnificent Chamber that I have portrayed in the aforementioned Plate XVIII, at figure II. 142. Monument of the Antonine Aqueduct, which is located inside the Porta San Sebastiano on the ancient Appian Way, similar in appearance to the other referenced Gates, the Porta Maggiore and Porta San Lorenzo, as I demonstrate in Plate XIX of this Volume, at figure I. The Aqueduct carried the water from the Antonine Fountain, which was added to the Aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia by Caracalla, as one can gather from its inscription on the Porta San Lorenzo, referenced in the previous number 23. One can see its direction delineated in the Map of the Aqueducts. The Monument now under discussion is composed of spolia from other buildings and has remained imperfect in its ornamentation. Modern writers claim that this monument is the Arch of Drusus, but they wouldn’t have made such a claim if they had observed either the channel of the Aqueduct, which one can still observe in the Monument, or the progression of the arches of the Aqueduct itself in the ruin located on the outside corner of the city walls, noted also at number 142, and in the following ruin inside the walls, noted at number 145, which point to the corresponding progression of arches. And, in fact, Niccolo Baglioni, the winemaker of the Casali estate, in excavating the vineyard, had shown and removed some pilasters of this progression of arches of the Aqueduct, which he says are still, in large part, left to be removed. 143. Remains, in the same vineyard near the Porta San Sebastiano, and the Catacombs which are demonstrated in Plate LV, and LVI of Volume II. 144. Walls of Tombs in the Albanesi Vineyard. From the Vineyard of the Collegio Clementino up to the aforementioned Gate, there were many excavations in which numerous remains of Mausoleums, Funerary Chambers, and cobblestone Streets were discovered. 145. Remains of the aforementioned Antonine Aqueduct that distributed the water to the Pool, or the Tepidarium of the Baths of Caracalla. Figure II of the aforementioned Plate XIX in this Volume shows the function of the same Aqueduct in the same Baths, as well as the form of the Tepidarium, all of which I have portrayed from the excavations made by the winemaker Jacopo Frattoni before today’s vineyard, called the Lanajo. 146. Remains of the Columbarium, which today serves as the cellar of the Cavalieri Vineyard. 147. Monte Testacccio, named by Vittore Doliolo, consisting of a large mass of fragments of single shards, which has been the subject of much debate among modern Writers regarding its construction and origin. But in order to come to a certain conclusion, it is useful to observe from the ruins of ancient buildings the different uses of smaller materials in their construction. Small stone shards can be recognized in all the walls constructed of opus incertum. The smallest ones, as well as the fragments of vases, can be seen in the floors of every level in the buildings, in all the channels of the aqueducts, and sometimes in the roofs of public buildings as well, composed in the manner demonstrated in Plate XLVIII of Volume IV at letters N, O, P, Q. Therefore, one must believe without a doubt that the Mount or the mass discussed here was made intentionally from figuline vases, which were transported near here from the time of Tarquinus Priscus (Tarquin the Elder) in order to build the Circus Maximus, and serving a similar purpose were the aforementioned shards in the floors referenced above. Nor does it seem terribly improbable that such an extraordinary mass of shards, that has earned the name “Mount,” was made on purpose for the reasons I suggested. Indeed, one need only think of the pavement of innumerable types of buildings, frequently constructed and restored in the City, or even to just a single building, similar to the House of Nero, the Baths of Caracalla and Diocletian, and the Colosseum, and many other superb examples, the luxury of which might have inspired the ancient Emperors and Nobles to build, whereby little would have remained of the Mount itself. 148. Remains, in the Cesarini Vineyard, of the walls surrounding the Portico built by M. Aemilius Lepidus, and P. Aemilius Paulus in the Emporium on the bank of the Tiber. This remnant is illustrated in perspective in Plate XX of this Volume at figure I, and its plan is given in Plate XVII of Volume IV. The composition of the external walls is plain, that is composed of tufa in the form of voussoirs with unequal sides similar to the stones of ancient streets. Between this number and 149 that follows, near the bank of the Tiber, there were previous excavations where the remains of walls of some buildings were also discovered, which were probably the workshops of ancient Sculptors, since many iron tools of their trade were found there, as well as marble casts of statues, and other pieces of marble. 149. Remains of Shops of the aforementioned Emporium, in the Vineyards at the foot of the Aventine Hill.
150. Remains of a Pier of the Ponte Sublicio previously rebuilt by Aemilius and restored by the Caesars. These ruins are located on the bank of the Tiber in front of the Ripa Grande. 151. Another remnant of said Bridge on the Ripa Grande, where one can see, during the low tide of the river, some pieces of peperino, travertine, and tufa of the opposite pier to the one mentioned previously. 152. Masses of stone that fell in the Tiber from the Aventine Hill, on which a little bridge was built during the low times to facilitate navigation. 153. Other fallen masses in the river, as above, on which buildings from the low times were built. 154. Ponte Rotto, demonstrated in the previous Plate XX of this Volume at figure II. It was built by Gregory XIII on the ruins of the ancient Senatorial or Palatine Bridge. The piers of the ancient bridge were built by the Censor Marcus Fulvius, and the arches by Censors Scipio Africanus and Lucius Mummius; one of the arches, which is the first on the bank of the Tiber, still remains today, as well as a portion of the ancient piers on the opposite bank.
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155. Small Room, or Sudatorium, part of the house of St. Cecilia. One can see some tufa in the walls, and furnaces underneath the bricks, through which they heated the Sudatorium; similar to those in the Baths of Caracalla, demonstrated in figure II of Plate XIX in this Volume at letters L, M, N, O, and P. Also found there was a bronze lid that, in ancient times, covered the laconicum of boiling water. 156. Remains, on the side of the Casino of Villa Spada, of the Emissarium of the Acqua Alsietina Aqueduct, the memory of which one reads in a modern plaque located on the view of the casino itself, on the occasion where the Emissarium was destroyed to allow space for the new building. This corresponded in ancient times to the Naumachia which was built by Caesar Augustus on the Tiber (to which I have extensively referred in the explanation of Frontinus’s Commentary after the previously indicated Map of the Aqueducts) and of which there are also ruins in the Vineyard of the Nuns of Santa Caterina da Siena underneath said Villa, as can be observed in the present General Topography. Small remnants of opus reticulatum are being found in current excavations of the Vineyard. 157. Remnants of the foundations of the Janiculum Hill underneath the Chapel of Sant’Antonio di Padova fortified and enclosed within Rome by Ancus Marcius, including its most ancient perimeter indicated in the present General Topography with the letter A and consistent with the accounts of Titus, Livy in Book 1, and Dionysus of Halicarnassus in Book 3. In these remnants one can also recognize opus reticulatum, a method of construction from which one can deduce that it was very ancient. 158. Ponte Ferrato, built by Valentinian, Flavius Valens, and Gratian. This is illustrated in Volume IV from Plate XXI to XXIV. 159. Extremity of the Tiber Island, where remains of a part of the Ship appear, made of Travertines and constructed in ancient times to commemorate the fabulous Ship that transported the Serpent of Aesculapius here from Epidaurus. At the same extremity are the remains of the Temple of the said deity. The ancient memories that remain on this island today are demonstrated in Plates XIV and XV of Volume IV. 160. Noted is the separation of Tiber Island into two parts, caused by the high tide of the Tiber in the low times. 161. At the extremity of this small island, separated as above, one can observe the remains of the ancient foundations of Tiber Island, on which the house of the three Anicius brothers was located, as well as the remains of repairs made in the low times to other parts of the island that were damaged, and constructed of large blocks, travertines, and tufa from the aforementioned foundations. 162. The Bridge of the Quattro Capi, called Fabricius in ancient times, because it was built by Lucius Fabricius, Curator of the Streets, during the decline of the Republic. It was later fortified by new barbicans by the Consuls Marcus Lollius and Quintus Lepidus under the Empire of Augustus, as I demonstrate in Volume IV from Plate XVI to XX. Now that we have finished our journey around the modern perimeter of the city walls, and that of the walls built prior to Aurelian, noted with the dots on the map and indicated with the letter A, let us proceed with the examination of ancient Monuments entering through the Porta Carmentale, with the consecutively numbered guide. 163. Small remains of the plebian houses near the bank of the Tiber. 164. House of Niccolò di Lorenzo, commonly called Cola di Rienzo, built in the XIV century with very fine spolia of ancient buildings, and demonstrated in Plate XXI of this volume at figure I. The house, for the bizarre manner of its construction, and for the harmonious arrangement of said Spolia, was the marvel of its times as the following inscriptions mention. The Architects of the XVI century were inspired by this house to conceive of new ideas, in the entablatures of the columns, and it is visited by Scholars as a plausible curiosity: which has moved me to include it among the antiquities, and to depict a view of it. On the ruined cornice of the door, labeled in the aforementioned figure with the letter A, one reads the inscription below: NICHOLAS, WHOSE HOUSE THIS IS, WAS NOT IGNORANT OF THE FACT THAT THE GLORY OF THE WORLD DOESN’T HAVE ANY VALUE IN ITSELF. VANITY DID NOT MOTIVATE HIM TO BUILD THIS HOUSE, BUT RATHER HE BUILT IT TO RESTORE THE ANCIENT SPLENDOR OF ROME. IN BEAUTIFUL HOUSES, REMEMBER THE TOMBS AND BE SURE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE THERE FOR LONG, DEATH COMES WITH WINGS AND LIFE IS ETERNAL FOR NO ONE, OUR JOURNEY IS BRIEF AND ITS COURSE FLEETING. EVEN IF YOU FLEE THE WIND, IF YOU CLOSE A HUNDRED DOORS, OR COMMAND A THOUSAND GUARDS, YOU WILL NOT LIE DOWN TO REST WITHOUT DEATH. EVEN IF YOU CLOSE YOURSELF IN A CASTLE AS HIGH AS THE STARS, DEATH CAN TAKE WHOMEVER SHE WANTS. THIS SUBLIME HOUSE REACHES THE STARS, WHOSE CULMINATION, THE GREAT NICHOLAS, FIRST AMONG THE FIRSTS, BUILT FROM THE FOUNDATIONS TO RENEW THE GRANDEUR OF HIS PARENTS, CRESCENZIO HIS FATHER AND THEODORA HIS MOTHER. THE FATHER CONSTRUCTED THIS ILLUSTRIOUS BUILDING DEDICATED TO HIS BELOVED SON DAVID. On the curved architrave of one of the windows, labeled in the same figure with letter B, one reads I AM HERE AS THE HONOR OF THE GREAT ROMAN PEOPLE. 165. Temple of the Fortuna Virilis, which, having been burnt down, was covered by the Ancients in stucco in order to fix the damage caused by the fire, as demonstrated in Volume IV from Plate XLIX to LII. This Temple was converted into the Church of Santa Maria Egizziaca. 166. Quadrilateral archway near the Church of San Giorgio in Velabro, demonstrated in Plate XXI of this Volume at figure II. This archway was one of two built by Stertinius in the Forum Boarium, and it is decorated with two levels of niches, in which there were golden markings according to Livy’s account in part 3 of the fourth Decade. They are on level A, where there are some corresponding holes on the four bases underneath the throating of the cornice itself. It was anticipated that the markings were made at the same time as the Archway, or at least during the time the archway was in use, because they were arranged symmetrically and at an equal distance. Some of the niches are missing columns and cornices, and the archway’s other ornaments are damaged. Disfiguring it even more are the many holes made by the Barbarians in the low times in order to be fitted with pins of irons and bronze, as I have said elsewhere. During this time, the archway was used as a tower, as one sees from the remains and from the style of the walls of the niches on the second level, which are noted in the figure between letters B and C. 167. Ancient monument erected in the Forum Boarium by the moneychangers and cattle merchants, to Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and his Mother Giulia, as the following inscription shows. TO EMPEROR CAESAR LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS PIUS PERTINAX, AUGUSTUS, VICTOR OF ARABIA, ADIABENE, AND PARTHIA, THE STRONGEST AND HAPPIEST, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, VESTED WITH TRIBUNICIAN POWER TWELVE TIMES, EMPEROR ELEVEN TIMES, CONSUL THREE TIMES, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY TO EMPEROR CAESAR, MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS FELIX, AUGUSTUS, VESTED WITH TRIBUNICIAN POWER SEVEN TIMES, CONSUL THREE TIMES, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, PROCONSUL, THE STRONGEST AND HAPPIEST PRINCE, AND TO JULIA AUGUSTA, MOTHER OF OUR EMPEROR, OF THE CAMPS, OF THE SENATE, AND OF THE COUNTRY, OF THE EMPEROR CAESAR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS FELIX, AUGUSTUS, VICTOR OF THE PARTHIANS AND BRITONS, FROM THE THE BANKERS AND CATTLE MERCHANTS OF THIS PLACE WHO BRING THEIR BUSINESS HERE, AS A SIGN OF THEIR DEVOTION TO THEIR DIVINE MAJESTY. This monument is situated near the Archway mentioned above, as demonstrated in the aforementioned figure II of Plate XXI in this Volume at letter E. 168. Portion of the Cloaca Maxima, almost filled up from the ground of the fallen bank of the river, discovered at the location of the paper mill near the aforementioned Church of San Giorgio in Velabro. Two sources of water enter into this part of the Sewer from the Palatine Hill. One flows almost at the bottom of said embankment, that can be seen when the Tiber is at low tide and when the Sewer is not higher than the bank before the water from the Tiber is regurgitated. The other is directed for the use of the paper mill from an underground brook, which an apprentice from the same paper mill let me visit. He showed me that while proceeding toward the Church of Sant’Anastasia, he had discovered a long section of the sewer inside, from which point it was easy to advance through a large passage of many subterranean chambers through which the aforementioned water flowed. Therefore, these sources proceed from the Palatine according to the natural production of the water from the mountains, and the other Hills of Rome. These are the sources, which according to Frontinus, served the Roman people, in addition to the wells and the Tiber river, for the duration of 441 years from the construction of Rome, when they hadn’t yet built the aqueducts to distribute the waters from far away, as I reference in the context of the Commentary of the same Writer in the explanation of the Map of the Aqueducts in section 5. I will thus permit myself to rebuke the supposition made by modern Writers that these two sources of water came from the Spring of Juturna and especially the Lacus Curtius, not only with my previous explanation of their origins, but also with the testimony of Ovid in the sixth book of the Fasti where he says: Here, where now there are fora, there were once damp swamps; A ditch was drenched with water that overflowed from the river That Lake of Curtius, that supports dry altars. Now it is solid earth, but it was once a lake. From which one can clearly deduce, that since the Roman forum was initially flooded by the Tiber, the Lacus Curtius, which was in the Forum, was indeed formed by the same flood, and since the water cleared at a later point, the lake became dry. Having been dried up, there were no channels of water left. Indeed, water cannot be derived from something that does not exist. 169. Temple of Cybele, round in form, in the Forum Boarium, today called the Church of Santa Maria del Sole. Figure I of Plate XXII in this Volume portrays the Temple’s ruins in their simplest form, drawn in this way intentionally in order to show the Cella. Thus, one can see that this Temple was surrounded by a Portico of columns and capitals, but the architrave and all its ornaments that once rendered the Temple complete are now absent. One can also see pinecones, instead of roses, on the four sides of the capitals, which were distinct attributes of the Goddess. 170. Outlet into the Tiber of the aforementioned Cloaca Maxima, which according to Livy served as a receptacle for all of the waste of the city. Starting from the Arch of Septimius Severus, marked in the Map at number 270, this outlet extended underground through points 281, 282, 168, 169, and 170, where the aforementioned outlet of the Cloaca Maxima is located. The outlet was built under the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, and was adorned with three double arches, which were fortified with additional courses of large peperino on this part of the Tiber, and was thus called the “beautiful riverbank,” as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXIII of this Volume at figure II. This work, together with the Circus Maximus, also built by Tarquinius, Livy says, is almost comparable in magnificence to the structures built by the Romans of a later age. Some modern Writers will object to this comparison, but they have robbed the earliest Romans of the glory and of the majesty of their works. 171 and 172. Two other minor Sewers, built by the Censors Marcus Cato and Valerius Flaccus. The first is currently obsolete, and the second distributes the water of the Aqueduct of the Aqua
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Crabra, or Marana, into the Tiber, labeled on the map at number 11. One can see that the second sewer passes along the Circus Maximus, and borders the same Sewer at number 311, based on the indications given by the Moderns. 173. Remains of the Shrine of Saturn, composed of large blocks of stone, peperino, and travertines. These remains are located inside the mills in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. 174. Extant columns of variegated marble from the Portico that surrounded the Cella of the Temple of Fortune and of Matuta. Part of the columns are incorporated into the interior of the walls of the aforementioned Basilica. 175. Remains of the ancient Salt Mines, which are now in use by the carpenter’s shop toward Marmorata street, and precisely in front of today’s salt shop. These ruins are demonstrated in Plate XXIII figure I, at letter A, in this Volume. 176. Extent of the remains of the aformentioned Salt Mines on the bank of the Tiber beneath the Priory. In 1749 near here, precisely in the place indicated with the letter B in the aforementioned figure, it is possible to see the water channel of the ancient Aqueduct of the Acqua Appia. This aqueduct ended at the foot of the Clivus Publicius in the aforementioned location, at the Salt Mines near the Porta Trigemina, as is demonstrated in the Map of the Aqueducts, and as I have summarized in sections 6 and 19 of the Map’s explanation in relation to Frontinus’s Commentary. In the same year Monsignor Casoni, who was President of the Streets at that time, had rehabilitated this outlet and made it into the form of a small fountain in order to collect the water that issues from this channel, which comes from the water that falls into the crevices of the Aventine Hill, as is also demonstrated in the aforementioned figure I, at letter C, of the same Plate XXIII in this Volume. 177. Large wall with barbicans which buttress the slopes of the Aventine above the Clivus Publicius, as demonstrated in the same figure at letters D and E. 178. Remains of the foundations of the Temple of Queen Juno, part of which currently support the walls of Santa Sabina. In ancient times this Temple was famous in the Aventine, and it had a Cella surrounded by a majestic Portico, whose columns also now support the architraves in the nave of the same Church. 179. Lines of the circumference of the Circus Maximus, a trace of which appears in the gardens of the neighborhood called de’ Cerchi. 180. Circular remains of the sections that held up the marble seats of the aforementioned Circus. They are located on the Via dei Cerchi, bordering the wall of the garden of Santa Caterina da Siena, and precisely in front of the mills. 181. Other circular remains of said sections opposite those mentioned above. These are located in the vineyard behind the same mills. 182. Another remnant of the lateral wedges of the aforementioned Circus. 183. Remains of an ancient wall between the Cavalletti and Coridori vineyards, built to support the road between the Circus and the slopes of the Aventine. 184. Remains, or the terminus, in the Cavalletti vineyard of the Arches that carried a portion of the water of the Acqua Claudia to the Aventine Hill, derived from the Aqueduct through the Neronian Arches, as one reads in the aforementioned Commentary by Frontinus. I refer to these remains in note 21 of the explanation of the Map of the Aqueducts, in which the ancient progression of these arches is delineated at numbers 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37. These ruins, together with those of the Castellum of the Aqueduct mentioned above (behind which the ruins of Trajan’s private Baths also remain) are demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXIII, figure II, at letters A, B, and C. 185. Remains of the walls of the large Atrium of Liberty, adorned with niches. These are located in the vineyard in front of the Church of Santa Prisca. 186. Remains of the Baths of Decius in the same vineyard. 187. Other remains of the same Baths in the vineyard bordering the same vineyard. 188. Remains of one of the venal baths, consisting of four rooms. These are located in the Maccarani vineyard on the border of the aforementioned vineyard in front of the Church of Santa Prisca. 189. Remains in the Maccarani vineyard of foundations fortified by barbicans, which facilitated this part of the ascent, or clivus, of the Aventine. 190. Remains of other foundations at the foot of the same hill, which were covered with tufa, and which supported one of the Temples of Hercules. These are located next to the remains of a modern bastion in the Colonna vineyard, which are in front of the aforementioned Maccarani vineyard. 191. Remains of walls that moderns argue were part of the Temple of Diana, but having observed them firsthand, I have recognized that they are a work of the low times. The Church of San Saba remains in the middle of these ruins. 192. Remains of the Cerruti vineyard of the Mutatorium Caesaris outlined in fragment 46 of the Ancient Map of Rome, reproduced in the present General Topography, and described in its respective Index at the same number. 193. Remains of the Temple of the Bona Dea Subsaxana in the Boccapaduli vineyard, in front of the Alberto beyond the Circus Maximus. 194. Small remains of another one of the venal Baths, on the slopes of the Aventine Hill in the orchard called the Carciofolo. 195. Remains of the wall built by Caracalla with barbicans and niches designed to support the slopes of the Aventine Hill, where the Baths of the same Emperor were built underneath. These ruins can be seen in the vineyard of the most Reverend Chapter of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, called the Lanajo. 196. Remains of walls of the Pool belonging to the aforementioned Baths, situated on the first floor, as demonstrated in Plate LX of this Volume. These remains are located in the aforementioned orchard of the Carciofolo. 197. Remains in the same orchard of a tribune above the Porticoes of Alexander Severus. 198. Aforementioned Baths of Caracalla, the plan and specific explanation of which is provided in the aforementioned Plate LX of this Volume. The remains of the Baths can be seen in the aforementioned vineyard of the Lanajo, and are also in the vineyard of the Collegio Romano, and other vineyards nearby. 199. Dotted line indicating the first floor of the same Baths, today partly buried in the ruins. One enters this floor through the Lanajo vineyard as well as that of the Collegio Romano. The respective owners of the vineyards are continuing to fill up this floor through the upper windows in order to make it level with the land, and thus there are few of them left to be discovered, many of which I have seen in the last years. 200. Remains, in the Cornovaglia vineyard, of buildings near the two large perimeters of the walls built by Nero to enclose the slopes of the Caelian Hill, on which his Nymphaeum extended. 201. Garden of the Signori della Missione, on the former site of the Nymphaeum of Nero, demonstrated in the form of a plan in Plate XLI of this Volume. 202. Valley built by Domitian installed in the form of a Circus in part of the Caelian Hill for the construction of his Stadium, as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XLI at number 11. This valley is now occupied by the vineyard of the aforementioned Signori della Missione, and by the Villa Casali. A portion of a marker was found during excavations of this area, similar to the one in the Via de’ Cerchi, and possibly belonged to the previously mentioned Stadium. 203. One can also see in the aforementioned Cornovaglia vineyard, as demonstrated in Plate XXVI of this volume at figure I, the extent of another band of the previously mentioned enclosure of the Nymphaeum consisting of a wall designed with niches, and which, at the same time, served as ornament to the aforementioned Stadium of Domitian that remains underneath it, as is better illustrated and explained in the aforementioned Plate XLI of this volume at number 12. Above the said walls, one can see a channel that diverted and carried water around the Nymphaeum itself, as well as to the Palatine Hill through the arches resting on these same walls. Today, the remnants of the Arches only remain on the street leading from the Arch of Constantine to the Chiesa di San Gregorio, to which I refer below at number 300. 204. Remains of the pilasters of the archways that sustained the atrium and stairways to the same Nymphaeum. 205. Remains of the cage for some of the animals used for the Flavian Amphitheater. Each part of these remains are illustrated in Volume IV from Plate LIII to LVI. This ruin was built by Domitian with two levels of arches. The lower level is completely covered by the modern elevation of the ground level of Rome. During the excavations I made in recent years, I saw that there was no corridor connecting the gates between the arches and that the walls of the interior arches rest on the virgin soil of the hill. This hill was supported by a barrier and excavated through the caves of the aforementioned beasts. The arches of the upper level, in the thickness of the wall, show signs of having been closed by barriers that might have had their windows barred with iron to keep the winged animals, or other types of beasts, inside. Here, there are corridors leading from one arch to another by means of small gates with architraves of large travertines, in which there is no sign of pins, nor are there signs of pins in the jambs, that would have held up the wood or iron exterior gates; thus, one must hypothesize that this was a cage for beasts or winged animals. 206. The Church Santi Giovanni e Paolo, built in the low times on the ruins of their house, of which the remains were recently discovered through an excavation one hundred palmi underground between the modern ground level of the Church and the ancient ground level of Rome. The small arches that remain on one side of the same Church, for both their poor construction and their being built on the elevation of the ancient ground level, reveal that they were also built in the low times. This is corroborated and supported by the fact that the same Church was founded on the unstable elevation of the ground level mentioned previously. 207. Remains of the house of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus on the side of the aforementioned Church. 208. Remains on the Clivus Scauri of the house of the most ancient family Anicia, which descended to San Gregorio Magno. These ruins remain in the vineyard of the Camaldolese Monks. 209. Remains, and terminus of the Neronian Arches indicated above at number 130. These remains are still in the vineyards of the Signori della Missione, where one can see a part of the fistulas, through which, according to Frontinus, the water was distributed to the Caelian Hill, as demonstrated in Plate XXIV of this Volume at figure II, and as explained in the Map of the Aqueducts at number 38. 210. Arch at the Church of San Tommaso in Formis built with Travertines by the Consuls Publius Cornelio Dolabella and Gaius Junius Priest of Mars, as shown in the present inscription, which reads: PUBLIUS CORNELIUS DOLABELLA, SON OF PUBLIUS, AND GAIUS JUNIUS SILANUS, SON OF GAIUS, PRIEST OF MARS, CONSULS, BY THE DECREE OF THE SENATE, HAVE UNDERTAKEN AND APPROVED THIS WORK. This arch served as an entrance to the Campus Caelimontanus, where they celebrated the Equirria of Mars in case the rising tides of the Tiber extended toward the Campus Martius. Nero built his aforementioned Arches above this Arch, as demonstrated in Plate XXV of this volume at figure I. 211. Another remnant of the Neronian Arches, also demonstrated in the aforementioned figure I of Plate XXV, and in which the letters shown in the aforementioned Plate XLI in this Volume at figure II appear. Next to this remnant, there is another belonging to the ancient accommodations for Pilgrims, and on top of which a building was constructed in the low times in the Saracen style. 212. Other remains of the Neronian Arches that proceeded along the Campus Caelimontanus, and in which some restorations appear, made in different times. From the part where one enters the courtyard of the Church of Santo Stefano Rotondo, in between the arches, there remains a reservoir with an opening for a channel through which it received water. This was also one of the castella, as I said above, that took part of the water from the Neronian Arches and distributed it to the Caelian Hill. 213. The remains of the same Arches follow, continuing between the Casali and Salviati Villas. 214. Temple of Santo Stefano of round form, as seen in the aforesaid Plate XXV of this Volume at figure II, which shows the interior, as well as in the above-mentioned Plate LXI of this same Volume at number 27. This plate shows the plan of the church’s original form when it was built by Pope Simplicius in the year of our Holiness 467, and when it was later modified by Pope Nicholas V. The latter demolished the roof and part of the walls that surrounded the columns of the portico. He also built the wall of today’s exterior perimeter in between the interior columns. Such columns, being unequal in width, and embellished with diverse ornaments, reveal that they are spolia of ancient buildings. Travertines rest on two sides of their capitals, and some are carved with the sign of Cross.
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The other perimeter, which supports the original walls of the Temple interior, is composed of columns of greater width. They also rest upon bases taken from ancient buildings. The capitals and architrave are of a very heavy manner and were made at the time of the original Temple’s construction. The walls are not composed with the good order of the Ancients, as is custom, and the large tiles that make up the arches of the windows are not of the usual width found in ancient times. Nevertheless, the internal aspect of this Temple gives an idea of the majesty of the buildings of that great age, which has inspired me to portray it in the figure mentioned above. 215. Remains of the House of Phillip Augustus in the vineyards of San Giovanni in Laterano, Salviati, and Fonseca. 216. Remains of the lateral walls of the Field where they celebrated the Equirria referenced in number 120 above. These are in the vineyards adjacent to the street of the Santi Quattro Coronati. 217. Remains of the public Baths that are thought to be built by Nero. Seeing the rooms and furnaces used for the baths in the foundations of the recently constructed Monastery of the Santi Pietro e Marcellino al Laterano makes me believe that these ruins were a part of the Baths in the second Region indicated by Rufus and Victor. 218. Remains of the House of Marcus Aurelius, where his equestrian Statue was found, which today is found in the Piazza of the Campidoglio. These can be seen in the vineyards of San Giovanni in Laterano, of Mandosi, and of Gasina. 219. Remains, behind the Baptistry, called the Baptistry of Constantine, belonging to the House of the Lateran family, which occupied a large part of today’s Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. During the construction of the foundations of the modern facade of the same Basilica, a part of the foundations of the aforementioned house were found, along with rooms, basins, and lead pipes from its baths. 220. The aforementioned Baptistry, called the Baptistry of Constantine. This structure was built in the low times and was made from the remains of the aforementioned House within its ancient extent, and was modernized by the Supreme Pontiffs. 221. Another remnant of the Neronian Arches mentioned above. 222. Remains of the Ludus Gallicus between the Astalli and Falconieri vineyards. 223. Remains of the building belonging to the Ludus Matutinus in the Altieri vineyard adjacent to the Via Felice that leads from Santa Maria Maggiore to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. 224. Remains on the same street made of opus reticulatum, part of the public Baths, which were adjacent to the Ludus Gallicus and Ludus Matutinus. 225. Remains of opus reticulatum belonging to the Casa Merulana. These remain in the Righini vineyard and in the Gaetani gardens, not far from the Church, which is thus called San Matteo in Merulana. 226. Circular remains of the monuments of Marius in the Altieri gardens. 227. Other remains of the same monuments in the vineyard of the Parrish of Santa Maria in Campo Carleo. 228. Remains of the progression of the Aqueduct of part of the Acqua Giulia, referenced in number 122. 229. Remains in the Villa Palombara of buildings belonging to the Ludus Magnus. 230. Remains, near the Church of Sant’Eusebio, of one of the the first Fountainheads which, according to Frontinus’s commentary, received a part of the Acqua Giulia, to which I refer in the index and in the explanation of Map of the Aqueducts. These remains are illustrated in Plate XXVI of the present Volume in figure I. This Fountainhead was embellished with the Trophies of Augustus, among other ornaments, which one can now see on the Campidoglio because of Marcus Agrippa. These Fountainheads, through Agrippa, according to Frontinus, provided the City with many fountains. Some modern Writers suppose that it is part of the Aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia, others of the Acqua Claudia. Hence, anticipating this difference of opinion, in order to clarify the true provenance of this Fountainhead, I have opportunely surveyed the elevations of the remains of the two Aqueducts that they say belong to this Fountainhead. Having thus most diligently measured and compared the channel of the Fountainhead in question with that of the Acqua Marcia, I found that the Fountainhead was 14 palmi higher than the other one, and consequently I recognized that this ruin could not have belonged to the Aqueduct of the Acqua Marcia. Having measured and compared the elevation of the same channel with that of the Acqua Claudia at the Porta Maggiore, as well as with another at the Neronian Arches, which received a part of the waters of the same Aqueduct of the Acqua Claudia, and from the text of Monsignor Fabretti, which they say is at the same level of the Fountainhead in question, I found that this channel is a good 16 palmi shorter than that of the Claudia and Neronian Arches, and therefore, I recognized that his assertion was incorrect. I reasoned with myself, that the absurdity of the Fountainhead being a part of the Claudia would have been a vanity that should not be attributed to the Ancients, the idea of making the effort and expense to build the Claudia at such a prodigious height to then not also distribute the water in Rome at this height, but to immediately build the channel at the precipitous decline of 16 palmi in the short distance, a little more than half a mile, between the presumed fountainhead and its aqueduct. Thus, having recognized the equally baseless suppositions regarding the fountainhead mentioned above, I turned my attention to tracing its true provenance, and then, having measured the elevation of the channel with the two remnants of the arches behind it, indicated at numbers 228 and 122, I found them to be perfectly equal. Seeing then that these two remnants guided me to the fountainhead of the Aqueducts of the Marcia, Tepula, and Giulia at the Porta San Lorenzo, I proceeded to measure their elevations, and I found them to correspond precisely with that of the Giulia. I thus visited this monument in order to observe some signs of where the water diverted from the Giulia, which I correctly hypothesized. Indeed, the diversion was located toward the Fountainhead in question. I also saw that its canal and smaller channels, which today are used by the Aqueduct of the Acqua Felice, continue straight toward number 118 along the garden of the Gentili. I nonetheless performed additional research and observed on the right side of the monument the remains of the ancient wall that supported it, marked with the letter D in figure I of Plate XI in this volume, and which, I strongly suppose, is the terminus of the aforementioned arches coming from the Fountainhead in question, according to the design of the plan provided in the same figure at the letter G. And in fact I did not make an incorrect assumption, because even if the remains of the wall are ruined at the top today, I still recognized that it must have been at the same height of the channel of the Aqueduct of the Giulia, since it was the same channels that I discovered to be directly on the exterior of the aforementioned wall, and that I identified to be the opening of the arch that is closed today because of the Acqua Felice, and which must have received part of the Aqueduct of the Giulia mentioned above. Among the followers of Fabretti there are those that maintain that it is absurd to say that a Fountainhead this large, as the one discussed here, could have been a part of the Acqua Giulia. My response is that to deduce the dimensions of the Fountainhead solely from the channel is a frivolous reflection when compared to the truth observed above, since the width of the channel is irregular, and its branches are larger inside the Fountainhead, as one can see in the plan shown in the aforementioned figure I of Plate XXVI. This should not be the norm to deduce the distribution of either one part, or the entire water supply of an aqueduct. If the greatness of the Foutainhead can be deduced from its size, I reply, what magnificence can be recognized in these remains, which might exceed the merit of one part of the Acqua Giulia? Therefore, should we be surprised by a Fountainhead that seems too large to be part of the Acqua Giulia? Yet, we must remember that Frontinus narrates that the portion of the Aqueducts had more Fountainheads in ancient times than in the present. Here are his words: part of the Giulia etc. was distributed throughout Caelian Hill through the Fountainheads. What should be more astonishing, I ask, a large fountainhead, or more fountainheads, even if they are small? Certainly, we would not even notice the admirable remains of this Fountainhead, if we had seen the magnificence of all the ancient Fountainheads of the Aqueducts. 231. Remains of a building from the low times, on which today’s Monastery of Santa Lucia in Selce is constructed. Modern Writers, recalling that Pope Symmachus built the nearby Church of San Martino de’ Monti on the Baths of Trajan, deduce that the present remains are also part of the same Baths; however, their poor construction precludes this assumption. Underneath the church, nevertheless, there are some pilasters with arches that belonged to the tepidarium of these Baths, and which are labeled in the present General Topography with an asterisk *. One should note, however, that they are not those commonly mistaken for the pilasters mentioned above on the first subterranean level, since these are also from the low times and part of the original form of the Church built by the aforementioned Pope; but rather, they are actually other lower pilasters located underneath the garrets of the floor on this same first subterranean level, where there are caverns used by the Fathers of the same Church. One should note, furthermore, that the type of column made of oriental granite, buried under the main street near the aforementioned Monastery of Santa Lucia in Selce, is nothing other than a piece of column that is 2 palmi high, which I observed during the reinstallation of the same street. 232. Arch built for Emperor Gallienus by one Marcus Aurelius, his admirer, as shown in the following inscription, which can be read on the band of its architrave: TO GALLIENUS, THE MOST CLEMENT PRINCE, WHOSE UNCONQUERED VIRTUE IS ONLY SURPASSED BY HIS PIETY AURELIUS, DEDICATED THIS IN COMPLETE DEVOTION TO HIS MAJESTY’S WILL. This arch remains near the Church of San Vito and is shown unobstructed by modern buildings in the aforementioned Plate XXVI of this Volume in figure II. 233. Remains of arched rooms belonging to the quarters of the soldiers of the Misenum Fleet. These are located in the Cicolini vineyard and in the Ruspoli gardens near the Church of Santi Pietro e Marcellino. Modern Writers claim that these ruins belonged to the Baths of the Emperor Philip based on the following truncated inscription, which is said to be found in the vicinity of the ruins: L. RUBRIUS GETA CURATOR ... P. CCXXII … OUR LORD, PHILLIPUS AUGUSTUS BATHS … But the composition of the walls in opus reticulatum proves this opinion to be false, not only because this method of construction was already obsolete by the time of Caracalla and thus long before the time of Philip, but also, because the arched rooms, having been built using this method, reveal that they are from the time of Caesar Augustus. The aforementioned quarters, inside the rooms, were constructed in Region III where these remains are located.
234. Remains of the Pool, or Tepidarium, of the Baths of Titus in the vineyard of the Monks of San Pietro in Vincoli. The Tepidarium is composed of two floors, the first of which is completely buried due to the modern elevation of the ground level of Rome. The upper floor, which has mostly been uncovered, is shown in Plate XXVII of this Volume in figure I. This floor is divided by walls that form nine large hallways. Since they are filled with ruins, only seven of them have been discovered, for which they are commonly called the Seven Halls. One can see some channels in the wall of one of the hallways, where the water of the Aqueduct, which is now ruined, descended into the Tepidarium, in the same way that we explained regarding the Tepidarium of the Baths of Caracalla. From what one can see, the construction of the present edifice is of a robust consistency. The walls are constructed of tevolozza, filled with opus incertum and a layer of large bricks. The arrangement of the doors can be observed to alternate purposefully so that the robustness of the walls, with cavities inside them, would not weaken despite always being covered with water. The hallways are covered with mosaics, attesting to the luxury of the ancients. Some time ago when they dug up the vineyard, excavators entered the first floor and found some conduits and fistulas in the walls which introduced tepid water into the baths. 235. Remains of the House of Titus in the Gualtieri vineyard near that belonging to the Fathers of San Pietro in Vincoli. This House was built before the aforesaid Baths because a part of it is buried with the first floor, and thus, not level with the hallways and walls of the Baths, as one will see in the figure referenced below. 236. Remains of the Baths of Titus in the vineyards of the Canons Regular of San Pietro in Vincoli, of Laureti, and of Gualtieri. The plan of these Baths is shown in figure II of the aforementioned Plate XXVII. The dotted lines noted in the General Topography indicate the corridors on the first floor leading to the baths, which can be better distinguished in the elevation of the remains in figure I of Plate XXVIII in this Volume. The present Baths with the Tepidarium and the aforementioned House of Titus certainly occupied a part of the much-celebrated Gardens of Maecenas, but its location has, until now, been unknown to modern Writers. Omitting the innumerable documents by the ancient Writers, from which one can conclude that the place occupied by the Baths belonged to the Gardens of Maecenas, it will suffice to refer only to a few here.
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Seutonius in his Life of Nero recounts that this Emperor made a palace extending all the way from the Palatine TO THE ESQUILINE, which at first he called the House of Passage, but, when it was burned shortly after its completion and rebuilt, the Golden House. And Tacitus in book XV of the Annals at paragraph 39, discussing this fire, says: Nero, who at the time was staying in Antium, did not return to the capital until the fire was nearing the house by which he had connected the Palatine with the GARDENS OF MAECENAS…Only on the sixth day, was the vast fire brought to an end at the foot of the Esquiline. From this passage of Seutonius one gathers that the House of Nero extended from the Palatine to the Esquiline, and from that of Tacitus, that it extended from the Palatine until the Gardens of Maecenas. Therefore, it is the same thing to say that House of Nero extended from the Palatine until the Gardens of Maecenas, and thus, one needs to observe how far a distance the same House extended on the Esquiline hill in order to find the Gardens of Maecenas next to it. The precise location can also be deduced from the passage of Suetonius, given that he says to the Esquiline, from which one can infer that the House only reached as far as the Esquiline, and had not yet extended above it, and in fact, according to Tacitus, the fire reached the foot of the Esquiline Hill--apud imas Esquilias--and according to Seutonius consumed completely (as the word absumptam explains) the transitory House of Nero. One must necessarily admit that this House extended only to the edge of the Esquiline Hill, since it would not have been completely consumed if the fire had reached beyond the Hill. It was for the location of the House that it was called transitory since it allowed passage from the Palatine to the Esquiline Hill, occupying the valley between the two hills indicated in the present General Topography at number 287. Thus, having proven that Nero’s House extended only until the Esquiline Hill and precisely until the angle forming the strait of the aforementioned valley, it must also be true, in consequence, that this angle formed the boundary of the Gardens of Maecenas and that the Baths of Titus occupied a part of these same Gardens. With respect to the Baths, this assumption can be verified by a passage from Helenius Acron, which Nardini had the courage to suspect was false: The Tombs were formerly in the place occupied by the Gardens of Maecenas, where there are now only Baths. Having demonstrated further evidence regarding the Gardens of Maecenas, it remains superfluous to reproduce here the judgment of modern Writers, since they could not have discovered it until now. Indeed, no less than the Indexes of Rufus and Victor seem to object to my findings, since they place the Baths of Titus in Region III and the Gardens of Maecenas in Region V. However, seeing as these Gardens, according to the referenced passage of Acron, occupied the location of the Tombs on the Esquiline Hill, the limits to Region V indicated by Rufus and Victor should not be understood to comprise their entire extent in ancient times. Indeed, from the very first Emperors they occupied a large area along with other buildings, among which were the aforementioned Baths. These two Authors, since they compiled their Indexes during the decline of the Empire, could not have considered the Gardens of Maecenas as anything other than the portion that had remained, which was at that time in the Region they assigned. Hence one could argue that the Tepidarium of the Baths of Titus, as well as his House mentioned above, were not the work of Titus himself, but of Maecenas, since they came into Titus’s possession as the successor of the Empire of Augustus, to whom the property of Maecenas was owed, and since these two remnants do not correspond to those today, nor to the structure with the aforementioned Baths, and, in fact, a part of the ruins extends above the House, as referenced in the previous number and as demonstrated in their plan at figure I of Plate XXVIII in this Volume. Thus, one can presume that since Maecenas, according to Cassius Dio in Book LV of the Roman Histories, πρῶτός τεκολυμβήθρα θερμού ύδατος εν τη πολει χατεσκευασε, or, was the first to institute the Thermal Baths in the City; he had, in order to put his new invention to use, built his baths here, which were then expanded by Titus in the form of the ruins that appear today. 237 and 238. Remains of Nero’s Palace and its extent on the hills of the Convent of San Francesco di Paola ai Monti and under the Arch on the ascent to San Pietro in Vincoli. While the Convent was being built, some baths with lead basins were found. Their walls were covered with glass of various colors and metal lamina along with other refined ornaments. The plan of this building is given in the Map of the Roman Forum following Plate XLVIII in this volume at number 49. 239. Remains of Baths, under the Church of San Lorenzo in Fonte, adjoining the House of Pompey. These consist of a winding staircase and a corridor with a small room of opus incertum covered with reticulated stone. The rest of the ruins are buried under current elevation of the ground level of Rome. 240. Remains of the exterior walls of the aforementioned House of Pompey also of opus incertum and covered with reticulated stone. The ruins of this House form the great mass seen today in the Hospital of the Benfratelli Spagnoli, and extends to the small gardens nearby, and at the foot of the modern Suburra neighborhood. 241. Remains of walls made of tevolozza in a courtyard of a house on the first incline of the street that goes from Santa Maria Maggiore to Monte Magnanapoli, not far from the Basilica. These remains belonged to private baths. 242. Building constructed in the low times, which is today the granary of the Monks of Sant’Antonio Abate. This building is falsely named the Temple of Diana, since the form of the Architecture and the walls do not correspond to the good manner of the Ancients, and the Ornaments are completely gothic. One can see some inlaid marble fragments in the walls that show scenes of various hunts, and that is the only, and weak, evidence to support its attribution as the Temple of Diana. 243. Remains of the Baths of Novatus on which today’s Church of Santa Pudenziana was built. Other remains of the same Baths still appear in the cellars of the houses near the Church and in the garden in front of the Church of Gesù Bambino. 244. Remains of the Olympian Baths constructed in opus reticulatum behind the orchard of the Nuns of San Lorenzo in Panisperna. 245. Other remains of the same Baths in the street, called Vicolo della Caprareccia, near the Church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna. 246. Other remains of the same Baths extend underneath the wall of the orchard of the Nuns of San Lorenzo in Panisperna and across the street of Santa Maria Maggiore. These remains were cleared by Pope Sixtus V to level the aforementioned street. Now one can see the remains underneath the aforementioned wall and in a Washhouse going down the Vicolo di Cimara where it meets the Church of San Lorenzo in Fonte. 247. Remains of the foundations that enclosed the slopes of the Viminal Hill and at the same time, served as a wall to the Lavacrum of Agrippina, located in today’s orchard in front of the Church of San Vitale, where the aforesaid ruins remain. 248. Remains of a small Tepidarium of private baths, composed of two floors similar to those in the Baths of Titus and Caracalla. They remain in the cellar of a House on the Strada del Boschetto. 249. Remains of the Baths of Diocletian and Maximian, demonstrated in Plate XXVIII of this Volume in figure II. These are largely occupied by the Churches, Convents, and orchards of the Carthusian Monks and Monks of San Bernardo, and by the granaries of the Pontifical Camera, and by the houses nearby in the aptly named Piazza of the Baths. 250. Lines indicating the walls of the Tepidarium of the aforementioned Baths. Its remains were partly buried and partly filled with soil. The Tepidarium is also included in the aforementioned map at number 25. 251. In this place an ancient arched street that extended from the aforementioned Baths to the Praetorian Castrum is buried. It passed underneath the embankment built by Servius and Tarquin as demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXXIX of the present Volume. This street was recently discovered and then covered again with the ploughing of the vineyard of the aforementioned Carthusian Monks. The beginning of the street was found in the orchards at the back of their Monastery, as well as the continuation of the street toward the vineyard near the orchards that occupy the site of the aforementioned Castrum. Regarding the Embankment built by Servius and Tarquin, which is delineated in the present Topographical Map and that of the Aqueducts according to their current state, one should note that, as the assertions of the ancients rightly show and especially Strabo in Book 6 of the Geography, it extended από της Κολλίνας πύλης μέχριτης Ησχυλίνης, or, from the Porta Collina to the Esquiline Hill, proceeding along the tract of the interior city walls. The walls were built between the gates above the Embankment: καί επέβαλον τεεῖχος καί πύργους, or, they were located above the walls and the towers. Thus, there can be no question that the Porta Esquilina was located in ancient times in the place indicated in the aforementioned Maps (while the gate, according to Frontinus’s Commentary, was a part of the Speranza Vecchia neighborhood, which one cannot dispute to have been in those parts). It follows that the deviation of the today’s embankment toward numbers 242 and 231 was not part of the Embankment built by Servius and Tarquin, but I have noted as such thanks only to today’s continuous elevation of the ground level and common opinion. 252. Remains of Temple of Venus Calva in the gardens of the Carmelite Monks of Santa Maria della Vittoria. 253. Remains of the Nymphaeum of Diocletian, which extended across the gardens of the Nuns of Santa Susanna and the Casa Barberini. In the Monastery of the aforementioned Carmelite Monks, a very light and salubrious creek flows underground, which passes through the garden of Acquasparta, the Monastery of the Monks of San Niccolò di Tolentino, and the nearby houses at the Church of Sant’Ildefonso and San Giuseppe Capo le Case (the respective owners of which use this water source by means of fountains), proceeding to an unknown location. His Majesty Clement XII, attesting to not only the salubriousness but also the abundance of this source, proposed to divert the water to the Aqueduct of the Acqua Vergine, but the enterprise was abandoned since the water passed under the ruins of so many buildings and came up dry. There is thus foundation to believe that this was the water that Diocletian had found and made into a pool for the use of the aforementioned Nymphaeum, as is shown in the following inscription found by (Jan) Gruter: EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN CAESAR AUGUSTUS PIUS FELIX THROUGH MANY WORKS, AFTER HAVING EXCAVATED THE ROCK ON THIS HILL HAD DISCOVERED THE WATER HE SOUGHT, THE TIBER SEA, THAT FLOWS HERE IN ABUNDANCE FROM THE TUFA OF THE MOUNT HE DETERMINED WITH A SCALE THAT THIS WATER WAS VERY LIGHT AND SALUBRIOUS, ABLE TO CURE DISEASE CONSTRUCTED A POOL AS A RESERVOIR FOR USE IN THE NEARBY TRICLINIUM IN THE SPHAERISTERIUM WHERE THERE IS AN IMPERIAL NYMPHAEUM 254. Remains of the House of Domitian and Vespasian, also in the Barberini gardens. 255. Remains of the Temple of Ceres in the orchards between the Churches of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale and San Vitale. 256. Remains of the Baths of Constantine in the Rospigliosi Garden. In the past, when a wall of this family’s Palazzo was being built, some rooms adorned with stuccos, paintings, and grotesques were discovered. 257. Remains of the Baths of Claudius in the garden of the Palazzo Pamphili on the Monte Magnanapoli. These ruins, passing through today’s Via di Santa Maria Maggiore, extend underneath the Monastery of Santi Domenico e Sisto. 258. Torre delle Milizie, falsely attributed to Trajan, it being a work of the low times by the Conti Tusculani, or rather the Ancestors of the Conti House. This tower remains in the Monastery of Santa Caterina da Siena among the remains of the Forum of Trajan. 259. Remains of the same Forum, today underground, supported by a part of the Monte Magnanapoli. 260 and 261. Remains of the circular building or exedra of the aforementioned Forum, demonstrated in Plate XXVIII of this volume in figure I. The building consists of three levels, the first of which is buried among the ruins. The Ichnographic Map of the Roman Forum, Plate XLIII of this same Volume, shows the architectural plan of the building as it existed in ancient times from 188 to 210, in addition to its corresponding exedra. The circular perimeter of these remains still exists in the home for Widows, and in other nearby houses at Santa Maria in Campo Carleo, in Palazzo Ceva, and in the Convent of Santa Caterina da Siena. Some modern writers suppose that this area of the ruins belonged to the Baths
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of Paul, which they call ‘Aemilius.’ However, if they had observed the hemicyclic form of said building and its continuation into the cellars of the aforementioned houses until Santa Maria in Campo Carleo in the way I have demonstrated with darker ink in the cited Ichnographic Map of the Roman Forum, and, if they reflected upon the inscription shown in the following number 263 displayed on the pedestal of Trajan’s Column, where one reads about the levelling made specifically to make room for the vastness of Trajan’s Forum, encircled on this side by the very same hemicycle, certainly they would not have made the doubly absurd error of referring to this building as that of the supposed Paulus Aemilius or believing that it belonged to his Baths. Furthermore, the remains demonstrate a completely different method of construction. Beyond that, there is not any mention in the Ancient records of any Baths of Aemilius Paulus, or even simply of Paul, to which Rufus and Victor refer as having existed in region VI, and not in Region VIII, where the building in question was located. 262. Column of Trajan erected by the Senate and People of Rome in honor of the Emperor Trajan for his victory in the Dacian war. His ashes were also placed there. This Column is illustrated in the aforementioned Plate XXIX of the present Volume in figure II. It is one of the most ancient monuments to have remained intact and it is among the most marvelous works of the ancient Romans. The column seems to be striated and covered from the top to bottom with a band that winds around the column in a spiral, and where the most excellent bas-reliefs are carved showing the deeds of the same Emperor in the aforementioned war. There is a winding staircase inside the column through which one ascends to the top, and where there is now a statue of St. Peter that was installed by Pope Sixtus V. The Pope had cleared the area around the same Column below the modern ground level of Rome, which had covered up the most refined pedestal, marvelous in its cornices that were delicately carved in oak leaves, and in its other ornaments. Its base also seems to be covered by a woven carpet with trophies carved in such shallow relief, that the lines do not become confused, composing a most beautiful work of architecture. On one of the sides there is a door through which one enters the aforementioned stairs. On top of this door the following inscription appears. THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME TO THE DIVINE EMPEROR CAESAR NERVA TRAJAN SON OF NERVA, HIGH PRIEST, CONQUERER OF GERMANY AND DACIA, VESTED WITH THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER SEVENTEEN TIMES, EMPEROR SIX TIMES, CONSUL SIX TIMES, FATHER OF THE NATION, FOR DEMONSTRATING THAT A MOUNTAIN AND A PLACE OF SUCH HEIGHT WERE EXCAVATED FOR SUCH WORKS. The additional words tantis operibus are missing from the original inscription, since it had been marred in the barbarous centuries by an incision on the corner of the pedestal on both this and the opposite side, for the purpose of putting up roofs of some public shops, since the ground level of Rome had not yet been raised. 263. Remains of the Forum of Nerva at the Arch, called today the Arco de’ Pantani, demonstrated in Plate XXX of this Volume in figure I. It was called the Transitory Forum for its many archways that entered the nearby Forums of Augustus, Caesar, and Trajan, as well as the Roman Forum, as demonstrated in the Ichnographic Map of the same Roman Forum, and in its subsequent explanation. The Plan of the Forum treated here is shown and labeled from number 211 to 220, distinguishing its extant remains with the letter a. It was, according to Seutonius, started by Domitian and completed by Nerva, whose name it retains. From these remains one can get a magnificent picture of what the ancient Fora might have been like. 264. Other remains of the same Forum at Tor de’ Conti, called the Colonnacce today, illustrated in the aforementioned Plate XXX in figure II, and its plan shown in the cited Map of the Roman Forum at letter b. Admirable in this monument are its fine carvings on the cornices, bas-reliefs on the frieze, and taking into consideration its bronze ornaments, which it has been argued were placed above them from the openings that remain in the small pilasters in the attic, where one can see a Pallas sculpted in marble. Nearby, and precisely in the place marked in the aforementioned Map at number 217, was the Temple of Nerva, whose remains were taken by Pope Paul V to construct the magnificent fountain of the Acqua Paola at San Pietro in Montorio. Some modern Writers attribute to the Temple of Nerva the remains of its Curia, labeled in the same Map with the letter a; however, they are saved from this blunder by Andrea Palladio, who, having lived much before the aforementioned Pope, depicted the plan, elevation, and parts of this Temple in his treatise on Architecture, indicating the location that I have suggested, and declaring it as such with the following truncated inscription, which can be read in the architrave of its pronaos. EMPEROR NERVA CAESAR AUGUSTUS HIGH PRIEST, VESTED WITH THE TRIBUNICIAN POWER TWO TIMES, EMPEROR TWO TIMES, PROCONSUL ... 265. Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano built by Pope Felix IV on the ruins of and with the spolia from the Temple of Romulus and Remus, given in plan form in the Map of the Roman Forum at numbers 250 and 251. In said Temple, fragments of the ancient marble plan of Rome were discovered. At the back of the Church there is a piece of marble that used to be part of the Shrine of Mars. I recognized that the two columns in front of the Oratory on the Via Crucis, which was recently built on the left side of the aforementioned Church while they were throwing the foundations of the same Oratory away, were the spoils of ancient buildings brought there for the use of a building contemporaneous with the Church. First, their girth far exceeded the proportions of their height, such that I thought they might be cut. Second, because they rest upon bases that are also disproportionate. Third, because the capital and cornice on top one of the columns are also disproportionate given how small they are. And fourth, because in the aforementioned foundations a staircase was discovered with a part of the wall, which I recognized to be of poor construction, and thus consequently, not attributable to ancient times. 266. Remains of the Pronaos and Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, demonstrated in Plate XXXI of this Volume in figure I. The Pronaos remains in front of the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. On the frieze of the Pronaos, which is supported by magnificent columns made from only one piece of marble, the following inscription appears indicating the aforementioned identification of the Temple: FOR THE DIVINE ANTONINUS AND THE DIVINE FAUSTINA BY ORDER OF THE SENATE. The lateral walls of peperino that are coarse today were once covered with marble. The plan of the Temple is displayed in the Map of the Roman Forum at number 243, in addition to its Vestibule. The ruins remained until the times of the aforesaid Palladio who portrayed them in his treatise on Architecture. 267. Remains of the ancient Aerarium built in the times of the Republic (today the Church of Sant’Adriano). Its facade was covered with stucco. From these ruins Pope Alexander VII built a tower and made the great main door of the Lateran Basilica in bronze. 268. Column that has remained standing from the Graecostasis, rebuilt by Antoninus Pius after the fires, and shown in plan form in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum at number. 269. Arch of Septimius Severus and Antoninus Caracalla at the foot of the Campidoglio, demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXXI in figure II. On this Arch the following inscription appears: TO THE IMPERATOR CAESAR LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS, SON OF MARCUS, SEVERUS PIUS PERTINAX AUGUSTUS, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, CONQUEROR OF THE PARTHIANS IN ARABIA AND ASSYRIA, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, WITH TRIBUNICIAN POWERS ELEVEN TIMES, TRIUMPHING GENERAL ELEVEN TIMES, CONSUL THREE TIMES, AND PROCONSUL; AND TO THE IMPERATOR CAESAR MARCUS AURELIUS, SON OF LUCIUS, ANTONINUS AUGUSTUS PIUS FELIX , WITH TRIBUNICIAN POWERS SIX TIMES, CONSUL, PROCONSUL, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, THE BEST AND BRAVEST OF PRINCES, ON ACCOUNT OF THE REPUBLIC RESTORED AND THE EMPIRE OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE INCREASED BY THEIR OUTSTANDING VIRTUES AT HOME AND ABROAD, THE SENATE AND THE ROMAN PEOPLE DEDICATE THIS ARCH. The Arch is composed of large marble blocks and decorated with columns and bas-reliefs. The entablature of the same Arch was adorned with metal festoons on the pilasters and other parts, and held up by pins, as one can observe from the holes in the stone. The letters of the inscription were made in bronze, and above them was a chariot pulled by horses. All these ornaments, however, did not increase the monument’s worthiness, as it was lacking the good manner of both Architecture and Sculpture. 270. Remains of the Pronaos of the Temple of Concord near the aforementioned Arch, demonstrated in Plate XXXII of the present Volume in figure I. This building, since it burned down in the fire on the Campidoglio, was rebuilt from the remains of other buildings that also burned down, as appears in the following inscription which can be read on the architrave of the aforementioned Pronaos: THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME RESTORED AFTER IT WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE. The plan of the building can be seen in aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum at number 171. 271. Three columns that have remained standing from the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXXII in figure II. The plan of this Temple is given at number 174 in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum. The Temple was erected by Augustus at the foot of the Campidoglio and restored after the aforementioned fires, as indicated by the letters ESTITVER, or restored. The letters were part of the inscription on the architrave of the pronaos. 272. Remains of shops, composed of travertines and peperino, which were in the Forum of Augustus and given in plan form in the same Map from number 222 to 228. These remains are located near the Church of San Giuseppe de Falegnami, and precisely in a courtyard at the first entrance to the winding road on the right of the hill toward the statue of Marforio. 273. Remains of the Mamertine Prison (today San Pietro in Carcere) given in plan form in the same Map at numbers 180 and 181, on whose frieze the following inscription appears. TO VIBIUS, SON OF CAIUS, AND MARCUS COCCEIUS NERVA, ITS RESTORERS S.C. 274. Remains of the public Atrium and Tabularium rebuilt by Vespasian, or, according to others, by Domitian, and demonstrated in plan form in the aforementioned Map at number 176 and 177. This was situated on the foundations on this part of the Capitoline Hill, where it was cut to make space for the ground level of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans mentioned above. 275. Remains of ancient houses on the Capitoline Hill and Mamertine Street near said Mamertine Prison. 276. Remains of the facade of the Tomb of Gaius
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Publicius Bibulus, at the beginning of the Hill toward the sculpture of Marforio on the side of the Macel de’ Corvi, demonstrated in Volume II at Plates IV and V. 277. Remains of the Tomb of the Gens Claudia. Both this and the above-mentioned tomb were located outside of Rome before Trajan expanded the walls to make room for his Forum. And since this Emperor was the first to receive a burial inside the City, the location of which was an exception to the prohibitive law, the aforementioned tombs were located inside Rome by accident. One cannot deny this fact because the aforementioned tombs were seen inside the city before his death. 278. One of the summits of the Capitoline Hill, where the Temples of Jupiter Feretrius and of Mars were built. Today, the Church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli is built on top of their ruins. The plan of the Temples is given in the Map of the Capitoline Hill in Plate XLIV of this Volume at numbers 25 and 26. 279. Remains of the walls of the Capitoline Stronghold built on the Tarpeian Rock on the opposite side of the aforementioned summit, and demonstrated in figure II in the same Plate at letters A, B, C, D, E, and F. These remains remain in the garden and underneath the stables of the Casa Caffarelli. The plan of the ancient buildings on said Cliff are shown in the same Map of the Capitoline Hill and its following index. 280. Three Columns that have remained standing from the Temple of Castor and Pollux near Santa Maria Liberatrice and demonstrated in the aforementioned Plate XXXIII of this Volume in figure I. While Caligula was building his home, he transformed this Temple into the vestibule of the house, as Seutonius narrates in chapter 22 of his Lives, and as one can observe in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum at number 78. 281. Remains of the same vestibule in the granaries behind the aforementioned Church of Santa Maria Liberatrice and demonstrated in the aforementioned figure I in Plate XXXIII. 282. Remains of the Tablinum of the Golden House Nero consisting of high and monumental walls with three archways adorned with coffers, as demonstrated in figure II of the aforementioned Plate XXXIII, and provided in a plan in the Map of the Roman Forum at number 58. This Tablinum had five entrances corresponding to the open atrium, referenced in number 284 of this Volume. Three entrances have remained standing and are labeled in figure II with the letters A, B, and C. Its facade, adorned with rectangular blocks of stucco that are labeled with the letter D, was higher than the atrium and had two rows of windows (one belonging to the today’s lower facade, and the other to the higher one or tympanum) on which the lateral jambs are still visible, labeled with the letters E and F. The great vault in the middle, in ruins today but still visible at letter G, was once held up by magnificent columns. One of the columns is in ruins and was made into a tower by Pope Paul V, indicated with the letter H, and located in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in order to support the bronze Statue of Our Lady. The remains of the Tribune also survive, noted with the letter I, and are shown in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum. Below the three aforesaid archways one can see various niches where there probably were images of illustrious men, a feature often found in Tablina. Modern Writers suppose that the aforementioned remains belonged to the Temple of Peace, but without having properly considered its form, which would have sufficed to dissuade them from their arguments. Firstly, because these ruins do not have any resemblance to the Temples built by the ancient Romans, which have always remained the same or hardly varied in form. Indeed, one cannot see any indication of a Cella, portico, or even a pronaos with columns, all elements that can be observed from the depiction of Temple of Peace in the medal by Erizzo, reproduced in figure II in the aforementioned Plate XXXII. Secondly, because the building has no frontal Aja, which all ancient temples had, since the facade was obstructed from below by the open atrium, as the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum demonstrates, and as we will show in the following number. 283. Remains of the walls that formed one of wings of the aforesaid open atrium in the gardens of Santa Francesca Romana demonstrated in the same figure II of Plate XXXIII at letters L and M. Their plan is shown in the Map of the Roman Forum at number 57. 284. Remains behind the Convent of Santa Francesca Romana of two Tricilinia lateral to the Cavaedium of the aforementioned Golden House, demonstrated in the same figure II in Plate XXXIII at letters N and O. Their plan is shown in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum at number 62. Modern Writers attribute the remains to the Temple of Isis and Serapis, or of the Sun and Moon. But they are wrong for the same reason in that the form of the remains does not give any indication of a Temple. One cannot say that a niche or apse is sufficient to attribute a damaged wall to a temple, because such a claim would imply little knowledge of the methods used by the ancients to construct their buildings, since in almost all of them they had built hemicycles and niches, and in particular in houses, exedra, and dining rooms. Moreover, one can see on the exterior walls of the aforementioned dining rooms the vestiges of a roof indicated in the same figure with the letter P, which covered the rooms adjoining the dining rooms. Furthermore, there are signs that beams also covered the rooms, indicated in the same figure with the letter Q. The room facing east was used in the summer, and the other facing west was used in the winter. 285. Part of the walls of Nero’s Palace, in the Villa Mattei at San Pietro in Vincoli, near the Palazzo Sinibaldi. 286. Remains of walls belonging to the rooms of the aforesaid Golden House, in what are currently the gardens of the Nuns of Tor de’ Conti. The Via Sacra passed underneath these rooms by means of Arches. 287. Triumphal Arch built on the Clivus Sacer to honor the glories of Titus after his death in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem, as appears in the following inscription on its entablature: THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME, TO DIVUS TITUS, SON OF DIVUS VESPASIAN, VESPASIAN AUGUSTUS. This is demonstrated in Plate XXXIV of this Volume in figure I. In sections of the vault, the Arch shows the Apotheosis of the same Emperor, and, in the two lateral sections, a bas-relief represents his triumph with the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem, consisting of a great Candelabrum, trumpets, and other sacred objects noted with the letter A. Now, following the remains of the Imperial Palace on the Palatine, whose history has made it difficult to identify each individual structure, not least because of the changes and additions made by Emperors, or the fires they have endured. In order not to err in this regard, it was necessary for me to thoroughly consult the ancient Writers who refer to the Palace. It will thus be useful to generally say by way of introduction that this Palace extended across the entire Palatine Hill even though it was only one structure, as Flavius Josephus (Joseph ben Matityahu) recounts in chapter I of book 19 in the Antiquities of the Jews: Συνημμένη δὲ εκείνη, δια το εν τό βασίλειον ον, ὲπ’ οίκοδομίαις έκαστου των εν τη ήγεμονία γεγονότων άσκηθέν άπόμερους όνοματι των οίκοδομησαμένων, η καί τι μερῶν οίκησεως αρξαντων την έπωνυμίαν παρασχεσθαι. These (that is residences of Germanicus) were contiguous with the Palace: which was one complex, but adorned and distinguished with particular buildings by all of the Emperors, which gave it its name. The result was that the Palace was not uniform in its appearance, but irregular in its expansion and individual parts, as its remains clearly show, and which I have reproduced in a close-up in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum for greater discernment of that which appears in the present General Topography. This already being said, the following remains have been indicated in the General Topography at numbers 289, 290, 291, and 305, corresponding to letters c, d, e, f in the cited Map of the Roman Forum. The parts of these remains can be deduced from the journey to the same Palace in elegy 1 of book 3 of the Tristia by Ovid, where he says: He obeyed, and guiding me, said: ‘This is Caesar’s Forum, this is the Sacred Way named from the rites, There’s Vesta’s temple, guarding the Palladium and the fire, here was old Numa’s tiny palace.’ Then, turning right, here’s the gate to the Palatine, here’s Jupiter Stator, Rome was first founded here. Appearing first before us on this journey is the Forum of Caesar Augustus (and not of Julius Caesar, as others believe, since Ovid most often calls Augustus with only the title of Augustus). The plan of this Forum is located and marked in the aforementioned Map of the Roman Forum at number 222, and, following the itinerary thus, one can see the progression of the Via Sacra noted with small lines and marked with the number 242 near the aforementioned Forum. Second, he mentions the Temple of Vesta and tiny Palace of Numa which correlates to Book I of Martial’s Epigrams: Do you ask the way? I will tell you. You will go along by the temple of Castor near that of ancient Vesta, and that goddess's virgin home. Thence you will pass to the majestic Palatine edifice on the sacred hill, where glitters many a statue of the supreme ruler of the empire. And the Temple of Vesta and the small Palace of Numa can also be seen in the Map at numbers 78,75, and 72. Third, he speaks of the deviation of the Via Sacra to the right, which is noted in the Map with the letter g. Fourth, he mentions the gate to the Palace, that is of Rome, or rather to the Palatine Hill. It was interchangeably called the Palace, as were the Imperial Houses thereafter (which also corresponds to the aforementioned Epigram of Martial, where he mentions the Clivus Sacer and the Palace itself). This Street as well as the Gate are noted in the Map at number 67, remembering that during Ovid’s time the route from the aforementioned letter g until number 67 had not yet been blocked by the Neronian complex noted at number 59. Fifth, he mentions the Temple of Jupiter Stator at the foot of the Palatine, and this is added to and labeled in the Map with the number 66. Therefore, by indicating the Palatine there, and seeing how it guides us to the aforementioned remains noted in the General Topography with the referenced numbers 289, 290, 291, and 305, one must conclude that these ruins belonged to the Palace of Augustus since in those times there was not an Imperial House other than his. The second Emperor that built on the Palatine hill was Tiberius, as one understands from Suetonius in his Life of Otho, and with greater precision from Tacitus in the first book of the Histories where he talks about the same Otho, who proceeded through the palace of Tiberius to the Velabrum, and thence to the golden milestone near the temple of Saturn. Thus, the remains of the House of Tiberius are marked in the General Topography with the numbers 293, 294, and 295, corresponding to the letters h, i, k, l in the Map of the Roman Forum, since these are located on the corner facing the Velabrum, noted in the same Map between numbers 100, 101, 102, and 103. Gaius Caligula was the third to build on the Palatine, as one understands from Suetonius in chapter 22 of the life of this Emperor: he built out a part of the Palace as far as the Forum, and making the temple of Castor and Pollux its vestibule, etc., he built a bridge over the temple to the Deified Augustus, and thus joined his Palace to the Capitol. From which one deduces that the part of the Palatine where Caligula built his house, which faced the Forum and the Campidoglio and to which it was joined with a bridge, and consequently, the remains of the ancient buildings on the Palatine facing the Campidoglio (and noted in the General Topography with the numbers 282, and 292, which correspond to the Map of the Roman Forum at letters m, n, o, p) belonged to the same house. Additionally, the bridge by which Caligula joined the Campidoglio with the Palatine is noted in its plan in the aforementioned Map at the letters q, r, s, where it passed over the Temple of Augustus. The bridge is also noted with the number 82, which was situated on the Palatine as one understands from the words: this was on the Palatine, in other words, at the Palatine. These words were part of the following inscription found in the Columbarium of Livia, which I have reproduced among others in Plate XXVII of Volume II: To the manes, Bathyllus Freedman of Augustus, Immune and Honored, Guardian of the Temple of the Divine Augustus and Divine Augusta ON THE PALATINE. The Palatine Hill being filled with the referenced three Imperial buildings of Augustus by Tiberius and Gaius, and the remaining part of the Hill being completely occupied by popular buildings and temples, the famous fire under Nero occurred, which, as Tacitus recounts in book xv of the Annals: it took its rise in the part of the Circus touching the Palatine and Caelian Hills (that is from the place noted in the Map of the Roman Forum with the letter t). Where, among the shops packed with flammable goods, the fire broke out, gathered strength in the same moment, and, impelled by the wind,
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swept the full length of the Circus (thus it reached until the place noted in the Map with the letter u). There were neither mansions screened by boundary walls, nor temples surrounded by stone enclosures, nor obstructions of any description, to bar its progress. The flames, which in full career overran the level districts first (that is the floor of the Circus Maximus) then shot up to the heights (that is to the Palatine from the part of the Circus) and sank again to harry the lower parts, kept ahead of all remedial measures, the mischief travelling fast, etc. Nero, who at the time was staying in Antium, did not return to the capital until the fire was nearing the house by which he had connected the Palatine with the Gardens of Maecenas (that I reference in the previous number, 236, of this Index) it continued, drawing the fire closer; however, it was impossible to stop it from engulfing both the Palatine and the house (that is the transitory house referenced in the same number 236) and all their surroundings. But as a source of relief for the fleeing and fugitive populace (a large part of that populace lived on the Palatine Hill in the places that were not occupied by the aforementioned three buildings, of Augustus, Tiberius, and Gaius) he opened the Campus Martius, the buildings of Agrippa, and even his own Gardens. From which one necessarily argues that since the Palatine had been burned down and Nero had given the Campus Martius and his gardens to the People, he then built his House on the same Hill, but in the area that was first inhabited by the People, restoring the three aforementioned Houses after the fire, which are noted in the Map of the Roman Forum at letters x, y, z, bb, cc, ff, gg, which correspond to the numbers 296, 297, 298, 301, 302, and 307 in the General Topography. Thus, the Palatine largely remained occupied by the Imperial buildings which held the name of only one Palace. We also know from the ancient Writers that these buildings were expanded and used for diverse purposes, and restored after other fires by later Emperors, but these expansions and restorations were not such that its first structures were indiscernible. Having hence demonstrated in general the provenance of the remains of the buildings on the Palatine, let us resume our description of them individually, indicating their precise locations, where they remain presently, and organizing them according to their respective aforementioned numbers. 288 and 289. Remains of some the Rooms in the House of Augustus, part of which remains inside the Armory above the Arch of Titus, and the other part forms its exterior walls. 290. Other remains of said Rooms, inside the Farnese gardens, corresponding to those on the exterior wall of the Armory, which together surrounded the area anterior to the House of Augustus, as is better discerned in the Map of the Roman Forum at letters d and e. 291. Remains of the corridors of the workshops and of the restorations to the House of Gaius Caligula consisting of a portion of three floors which extended for a long stretch underneath the elevation of the Palatine Hill, which can be better seen in the aforementioned Map at letters m, n, o. Part of these ruins remain at the corner of the same Hill, corresponding to the Church of Santa Maria Liberatrice, while the other part remains in the aforementioned Farnese gardens. 292. Remains of the House of Tiberius consisting of large and damaged walls jumbled together with the arches that supported them. These remain in the gardens behind Sant’Anastasia and the aforementioned Farnese gardens, which can be better discerned in the Map of the Roman Forum at letter K. Found during an excavation in the year 1720 near San Teodoro were some great pilasters made of travertines, pieces of columns, marble jambs of one part, a large quantity of metals, as well as rooms belonging to the Palatine foundry. However, the excavation did not continue, for fear of ruining the walls of the aforementioned gardens, which had been weakened by it. 293. Remains of workshops on the lower floors of the aforementioned House of Tiberius. These remain on the hills of the Palatine and are used by the Workshop of the Coachmaker of the Piccaluga house. 294. Other remains of the quarters of Servants and Free persons, which were on the second floor of the aforementioned House of Tiberius. These ruins are arranged in halls adorned with grotesques and small figures painted in minium. They remain in the garden of Signor Cavalier Natoire, Royal Painter and Director of the Academy of France. 295. Remains of the Theater built by Nero above the great Palatine Loggia from which the spectacles of the Circus Maximus were observed. These rest in the Ronconi Garden bordering the Villa Spada. These ruins are shown with greater detail in the Map of the Roman Forum between number 121 and letter y. Figure II of Plate XXXIV of this Volume represents their elevation. 296. Remains of the Loggias of the Neronian House, along which the doors of cubicula, rooms, halls, exedra, baths, and a great number of living quarters were arranged. Many of the entrances to these areas are blocked by the ruins. These ruins remain in the barns near the aforementioned Ronconi vineyard. Their plans are shown in larger dimensions in the Map of the Roman Forum at letter ff, and in elevation in figure I in Plate XXXV of this Volume at letter A. 297. Other loggias, also by Nero, and restored by different Princes. These loggias are used by the barns adjacent to the vineyard of the English College. 298. Small remains of the Septizodium of the Septimius Severus, bordering the wall of the same vineyard. This Septizodium was destroyed by Pope Sixtus V, who had the columns transferred for use in the Vatican Basilica. Its remnants can still be seen behind the Basilica. 299. Remains of the arches that started from the Caelian Hill, and which diverted a portion of the water from the Acqua Claudia across the Hill through the Neronian arches, distributing it to the Palatine. These remains are still next to the street leading from the Arch of Constantine to the Church of San Gregorio. Their elevation is shown in figure II in the aforementioned Plate XXXV, and they are added in plan form at numbers 25 and 26 in the Map of the Aqueducts. 300. Ruin, in the Ronconi gardens, of the Peristyle of Nero’s House on the Palatine Hill, demonstrated in Plate XXXVI of this Volume in figure I. 301. Other remains of Neronian buildings in the Magnani vineyard. 302. Remains of the domestic Baths of Nero corresponding to the letter h in the Map of the Roman Forum. These remains were discovered in 1728 through an opening on the side of the hill. When they entered the space made by the excavators, they discovered seven rooms adorned with precious marbles, metals, and gold stucco, and paintings of grotesques. In the room that still remains there today, a great lead basin was discovered in front of a seat, also made of precious marbles, among which were two small columns of oriental alabaster. These materials were used for decorating some of the Cappella Odescalchi in the Church of Santi XII Apostoli. 303. Remains of a great hall discovered in 1726 with a cubiculum next to it. This was an addition made by Domitian to the buildings of Nero and was designed with columns, architraves, and other ornaments which were transported above the Fountain in the aforementioned Farnese gardens. An adjoining room is also located there, covered up by the discarded ruins that were excavated during the discovery of the aforementioned hall. 304. Remains of walls that enclosed the rooms of the Peristyle of the House of Augustus. These remain in the Barberini gardens between the Church of San Bonaventura, and the aforementioned Armory. 305 and 306. Remains of the lower floors of Nero’s House on the Eastern side. These remain in the Benfratelli vineyard next to the gardens of the Monks of San Bonaventura. 307. Arch of Constantine, built in part from spolia of buildings in the Forum of Trajan and demonstrated in Plate XXXVI of this Volume in figure II. Appearing on the arch are the following inscriptions: On the attic order: TO THE EMPEROR CAESAR FLAVIUS CONSTANTINE MAXIMUS PIUS FELIX AUGUSTUS, BY DIVINE INSPIRATION AND GREATNESS OF MIND, AVENGED THE REPUBLIC WITH HIS ARMY AND JUST USE OF ARMS AGAINST A TYRANT AND ALL HIS FACTIONS AT THE SAME TIME, THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME DEDICATED THIS ARCH AS A SIGN OF HIS TRIUMPH. From one part below the architrave: SOLEMN VOWS FOR THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY Also: SOLEMN VOWS FOR THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY On the other side below the architrave: AS FOR THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY Also: SO FOR THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY And underneath the central arch: From one part To the other LIBERATOR OF THE CITY, FOUNDER OF PEACE Aside from the ornaments and Trajanian spolia, which are admirable in and of themselves, the sculptures of this Arch are of an inferior manner. The frieze and the bands between the circular bas-reliefs were covered with porphyry, and the holes for the letters were covered in metal. There should have been other ornaments where decoration is lacking. 308. Remains of the Meta Sudans shown in the same figure II at letters A and B. This Meta was similar to those found in Circuses. It was built by Titus or Domitian as ornamentation to the Aja and to the Flavian buildings for the use of the Amphitheater. During recent excavations around this ruin, a water canal that fed the large pipe of the Meta was discovered. 309. Flavian Amphitheater called the Colosseum shown in Plate XXXVII in figures I and II of this volume. It was begun by Flavian Vespasian and finished by his sons Titus and Domitian. It is one of the most magnificent ancient buildings to have survived until our times. 310. The water of the Marana, or Acqua Crabra, flowed here. As Frontinus narrates, the aqueduct was condemned by the Romans and conceded to the owners of Tusculanum. Since the current owners of the same territory needed the water for their estate, they extended the aqueduct toward Rome, and thus one can still see it flowing inside the city today. However, it is impure and unusable except to water the orchards, after which it drains into the Tiber through the outlet of the Sewer built by the Supreme Pontiffs referenced in number 172. 311. Remains on the Aventine Hill of the House of Saints Aquila and Priscilla, who received St. Peter while he was in Rome to preach the Gospel. On these ruins the Church of Santa Prisca was founded. 312. Remains of the Plebian Houses in the aforementioned Cavalletti vineyards. It is very ancient, and the most intact of all the ruins of these houses, and thus remarkable since it gives an idea of the ancient houses of the Plebian class. 313. Remains of the jambs of the Courtyard of the House of Faberius Scriba made of opus reticulatum and opus incertum. These remain in the previously mentioned vineyard in front of Santa Prisca. 314. Remains of walls that belonged to the Portico paved with cobblestones that Titus Livy says, in Book 5 of the Decades, extended outside the Porta Trigemina on the Aventine Hill beyond the city walls. In fact, one observes in these same walls one of the arches of the Portico, which served as a passageway, next to the walls of the most ancient perimeter of the City. These remains are on the street of the Marmorata, beyond the aforementioned Clivus Publicius, at the Hermitage. What has been reportetd up to now is all that remains discovered in Rome of ancient buildings. One must note, however, that the configuration of the Hills in many areas is different than it was in ancient times, considering their expansion both in height and in size from the ruins of the aforementioned buildings. I therefore leave the illustration of their first composition to the large Ichnographic Plan of Ancient Rome which I will soon publish.