Chapter XIII: Appendix: To Chapter VIII

MONUMENTAL ANTIQUITIES IN THE MUSEUMS, PIAZZAS AND OTHER PLACES.

Besides the ruins which are still standing in Rome and the Campagna, many historical monuments may be seen in the Roman museums, and in some of the gardens and piazzas. The principal among these are as follows:

[Sidenote: Egyptian antiquities.]

1. Numerous Egyptian antiquities were found near the Churches of S. Maria sopra Minerva and that of S. Stefano in Cacco, on the site of the ancient Temples of Isis and Serapis. Of these the most remarkable are the two obelisks, one of which now stands in front of the Pantheon, and the other in the Piazza della Minerva. The statue of Isis, now in the Hall of the Dying Gladiator at the Capitoline Museum, the Egyptian lions on the steps of the Capitol, and the famous statue of the Nile now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican, were also found here.

[Sidenote: Bas-reliefs from Arch of M. Aurelius.]

2. At the corner where the Strada della Vite crosses the Corso is a tablet recording the improvements made by Alexander VII. in the Corso at that point, whence he removed the ruins of an ancient triumphal arch which impeded the thoroughfare. A view of this is given by Donati, who calls it the Arcus Domitiani. But Nardini and all topographers since his time are agreed that the arch which stood here till 1662, must have been erected at a later time in honour of M. Aurelius. When it was pulled down, for public convenience as the inscription tells us, there were still four columns of verde antico standing, two of which are now used to adorn the principal altar in the Church of S. Agnese in Piazza Navona, and two are in the Corsini Chapel of the Lateran Basilica. The keystone of the arch is preserved in the Collegio della Sapienza; on each side of the arch there were two reliefs, now placed in the Capitoline Palace of the Conservators on the landing places at the top of the stairs. One of these represents M. Aurelius standing on a suggestus to deliver an harangue, and the other the apotheosis of the younger Faustina, his wife, who is being carried up to heaven by a genius, while the emperor is seated below, and at his feet the genius of Halala, a town at the foot of Mount Taurus where Faustina died.

These two reliefs were removed into the Palace of the Conservators in order that they might be placed near four other reliefs, which had been found in the sixteenth century in the Church of S. Martina on the Capitol. A fifth, also found in the same church, is now in the Palazzo Torlonia in the Piazza di Venezia. The earlier history of the removal of these last five reliefs is not known, but it seems certain, from their style and subjects, that they belonged to the Arch of M. Aurelius. The four which are now in the Conservators’ Palace represent Marcus Aurelius on horseback with his army, a group of barbarians kneeling before him, the goddess Roma, receiving the emperor who comes on foot to the gates, and presenting him with the globe, the symbol of empire, the triumphal procession of M. Aurelius in a quadriga crowned by Victory, and his thanksgiving sacrifice on the Capitol. The fifth relief, which is now in the Palazzo Torlonia, represents either M. Aurelius, or his brother Lucius Verus in conference with some barbarians who kneel as suppliants before him. Even supposing that the last mentioned five reliefs do not belong to this arch, yet the two first which are known to have stood upon it are quite sufficient to prove that it was the arch of M. Aurelius. The similarity between the representation of the apotheosis of the younger Faustina and that of Antoninus Pius and the elder Faustina is too evident to be overlooked and the whole style of sculpture and architecture points to the Antonine Age.

3. With the bas-reliefs from the Arch of M. Aurelius must be compared that on the pedestal of the column of Antoninus Pius now placed in the Giardino della Pigna at the Vatican. On one side of this is an inscription recording its dedication to Antoninus Pius, and on the other sides are reliefs, the principal of which represents the apotheosis of Antoninus and Faustina, while the others represent groups of cavalry and infantry.[122] One fragment of the column now placed upon the pedestal has a Greek inscription upon it showing that the stone of which the column was formed was originally cut in the ninth year of Trajan, and after lying for a long time in the imperial stoneyard was subsequently used for this column. In the same place, the Giardino della Pigna, is to be seen the gigantic bronze fir-cone which may have formed the summit of Hadrian’s Mausoleum, now the Castle of S. Angelo, and also the bronze peacocks which ornamented the same building.[123] The colossal head of Hadrian from his mausoleum is now in the Museo Pio Clementino.

4. The inscription cut upon the pedestal of the urn of Agrippina, the mother of Caligula, may still be seen in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitol, and also the cippi recording the burials of some of the imperial family. The pedestal was hollowed out and used as a measure for corn in the Middle Ages, and hence it was called Rugitella di grano.

Other colossal fragments are also kept in this courtyard, and on the staircase are the fragments of the inscription on the Duilian column found near the arch of Septimius Severus, and a bas-relief of Curtius leaping into the gulf, found in the Forum Romanum near the Church of S. Maria Liberatrice. The bas-reliefs mentioned above, No. 2, are also there.

5. The fragments of the ancient register of Consuls from A.U.C. 272 to the end of Augustus’ reign, which were found in the Forum Romanum, near the Temple of Castor, are arranged on the wall of the fourth room in the Halls of the Conservators on the Capitol. These are printed and discussed in the Berlin ‘Corpus Inscriptionum,’ Vol. I.

6. The famous bronze figure of the wolf and twins is placed in the gallery of bronzes on the Capitol. It was found, according to Flaminius Vacca, who wrote in 1594, near the Arch of Janus Quadrifrons. Urlichs, who has discussed the probable history of this figure in the Rheinisches Museum, thinks that it is the figure dedicated by the Ogulnii, Ædiles in B.C. 297, and mentioned in the tenth book of Livy.

7. A stupendous sarcophagus brought from Vico Varo, with a bas-relief representing the Calydonian boar hunt, stands in the Museum of the Capitol, and in the next room is the sepulchral monument found at the Porta Salaria in 1871, recording the young Greek scholar who won the prize at the Agon Capitolinus in A.D. 86. Another most interesting sarcophagus, which was found at the Monte del Grano on the road to Frascati, and contained the vase called the Portland Vase now in the British Museum, stands in the Hall of the Urns in the Capitoline Museum.

8. On the wall of the staircase in the Capitoline Museum are the fragments of the celebrated marble plan of Rome cut in the time of Septimius Severus, which shows the sites and ground plans of the Portico of Octavia, the Theatre of Pompeius, the Basilica of Trajan, the Basilica Julia, and the Theatre of Marcellus.

9. The Dying Gladiator, or more properly the Dying Gaulish Herald, was found in the gardens of Sallust, near the Porta Salaria. It now stands in the room called the Hall of the Dying Gladiator at the Capitoline Museum.

10. In the Hall of the Faun at the Capitoline Museum may be seen one of the most beautiful ancient bas-reliefs in Rome, representing the battle of Theseus, and the Amazons. This is on a sarcophagus which was found near Torre Salona on the Via Collatina.

11. In the Capitoline Museum, the Halls of Busts of the Emperors and of Illustrious Men, the Venus of the Capitol, and the Doves of Pliny, are monuments connected with several celebrated spots in Rome and the Campagna.

12. The places, however, at which most of the important antiquities have been found are the Villa of Hadrian, near Tibur, and the ruins of Veii and Ostia. The following is a list of the chief monuments which were found there and are now placed in the Vatican Museum.

A. From Hadrian’s Villa.

1. Faun. No. 84. }
2. A Vestal. No. 120. }
3. A Niobid. No. 176. } Museo Chiaromonti.
4. Clotho. No. 498. }
5. Bacchic bas-reliefs. No. 642. }
6. Hercules. No. 732. }

7. Baths of granite and masses of alabaster in the 4th portico of the Cortile di Belvedere.

8. Mosaics on the wall in the Hall of the Animals and in the Cabinet of the Masks.

9. The Candelabra on each side of the Ariadne in the Gallery of Statues.

10. Colossal bust of M. Aurelius in the Hall of the Busts. No. 288.

11. Corinthian columns in the Hall of the Muses.

12. Colossal Hermæ at the entrance of the Rotonda and bust of Faustina, No. 541 in the Rotonda.

13. Granite statues at the doorway of the Hall of the Greek Cross.

14. Discobolus, No. 618 in the Hall of the Biga.

15. Ephesian Diana, No. 81, and Female Statue No. 222, in the Gallery of Candelabra.

16. Egyptian figures in the Egyptian Museum.

B. From Veii and the North-Western Campagna.

1. Statue of Tiberius. No. 400. } Museo Chiaromonti.
2. Head of Augustus. No. 401. }

3. Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, in the Braccio Nuovo.

C. From Ostia.

1. Antoninus. No. 6. }
2. Winter. No. 13. }
3. Bust of young Augustus. No. 416. }
4. Bust of Julia. No. 418. }
5. Juno. No. 534. } Museo Chiaromonti.
6. Head of Neptune. No. 606a. }
7. Boy and Swan. No. 651. }
8. Sarcophagus of Nonius Asprenas. No. 685. }
9. Æsculapius. No. 684. }
10. Bust of Antoninus Pius. No. 700. }

11. Ganymede. No. 38. }
12. Ceres. No. 83. } Braccio Nuovo.
13. Bust of Commodus. No. 121. }

The other principal ancient monuments now in the Vatican Museum besides those from the Villa of Hadrian, from Ostia, and Veii, above-mentioned, are:--

1. The statue of Demosthenes from the neighbourhood of Cicero’s Tusculan villa. No. 62. Braccio Nuovo.

2. The Torso Belvedere found near the ruins of the Theatre of Pompeius. No. 3, Museo Pio Clementino.

3. The Laocoon found near the Baths of Titus. Cortile di Belvedere. No. 74.

4. The great porphyry basin found at the Baths of Diocletian. Rotonda.

5. Sarcophagi of S. Constantia and S. Helena, and cippus of Syphax found on the road to Tibur. Hall of the Greek Cross.

6. Sarcophagus of L. Scipio Barbatus, from the Tomb of the Scipios, near the Porta S. Sebastiano. Museo Pio Clementino.

In the Capitoline Museum are placed:--

A. From Hadrian’s Villa.

1. Colossal head of Cybele. No. 9 in the courtyard,

{ Psyche. No. 53. }
2. { Cupid of Praxiteles. No. 13. } In the Gallery.
{ Euterpe. No. 32. }

3. Roman Matron. No. 3. }
4. An Amazon. No. 5. } In the Hall of the Dying Gladiator.
5. Flora. No. 11. }
6. Antinous. No. 13. }

7. The Faun. No. 1 in the Hall of the Faun.

8. Centaurs in bigio antico. No. 2. }
9. A Gymnasiarch. No. 27. } In the Saloon.
10. Harpocrates. No. 34. }

Some other great ancient monuments are placed as follows:--

1. The first milestone on the Appian Road, found in 1584, is now placed in the Piazza del Campidoglio at the top of the steps leading up from the Piazza d’Ara Cœli on the right hand. The seventh milestone is placed opposite to it.

On the stairs of the Capitol are also placed the marble sculptures called the trophies of Marius which were brought from the ruin on the Campus Esquilinus, not very far from the Arch of Gallienus. At the top of the steps stand two equestrian figures of the Dioscuri, said to have come from the neighbourhood of the Theatre of Balbus, and the statues of Constantine and his son Constans from the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal. At the foot of the staircase are the two Egyptian lions found as above mentioned near the Church of S. Stefano in Cacco. The history of the bronze equestrian statue of M. Aurelius, now in the Piazza of the Capitol, cannot be traced as Palladio states to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, but it was more probably found as Fea has recorded, near the Arch of Septimius Severus.

2. A bronze cista mistica found at Præneste is in the Kircherian Museum.

3. The wooden beams from the Villa of Cæsar in the lake of Nemi, are kept partly in the Kircherian Museum, and partly in the Gallery on the right hand of the Vatican Library.

4. The caricature of Alexamenos from the Palatine is in the Kircherian Museum.

5. The mosaics from the Baths of Caracalla are in the Hall of Mosaics at the Lateran.

6. One of the white marble columns from the Basilica of Constantine is placed in front of the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore.

7. The history of the great pair of figures on the Piazza del Quirinale called the Dioscuri and their horses, cannot be traced further back than the time of Constantine, in whose baths they stood, as we are told by Bufalini. The style of sculpture is of the Imperial Age of Rome, and the inscriptions ascribing them to Phidias and Praxiteles are erroneous.

8. Many good specimens of columns, ancient ornamental sculpture, and other monuments may be seen in the following places. The Churches of S. Lorenzo and S. Agnese fuori le Mura; S. Maria in Cosmedin, di Aracœli, degli Angeli, and in Trastevere. The Villas Ludovisi, Borghese, Albani, and Spada.