silver, ivory, bronze and marble, mostly the production of the best
Greek artists, which adorned this magnificent group of buildings,
must have made it the chief glory of this splendid city. This
temple was begun by Augustus in 36 B.C.,[1] after his Sicilian victory
over Sextus Pompeius, and dedicated on the 9th of October 28 B.C.[2]
A glowing account of the splendours of these buildings is given
by Propertius (ii. 2, iii. 31). Inside the cella were statues of Apollo
between Latona and Diana by Scopas, Cephisodotus and Timotheus
respectively (Plin. H.N. xxxvi. 24, 25, 32); beneath the base of
the group were preserved the Sibylline books. The pediment had
sculpture by Bupalus and Archermus of Chios (Plin. H.N. xxxvi.
13), and on the apex was Apollo in a quadriga of gilt bronze. The
double door was covered with ivory reliefs of the death of the Niobids
and the defeat of the Gauls at Delphi. The Ancyran inscription
records that Augustus melted down eighty silver statues of himself
and with the money “offered golden gifts” to this temple, dedicating
them both in his own name and in the names of the original
donors of the statues.[3] The Sibylline books were preserved under
the statue of Apollo (Suet. Aug. 31); and within the cella were
vases, tripods and statues of gold and silver, with a collection of
engraved gems dedicated by Marcellus (see Plin. H.N. xxxvii. 11,
xxxiv. 14). In the porticus was a large library, with separate
departments for Latin and Greek literature,[4] and a large hall where
the senate occasionally met (Tac. Ann. ii. 37). Round the porticus,
between the Numidian marble columns, were statues of the fifty
Danaids, and opposite them their fifty bridegrooms on horseback
(see Schol. on Pers. ii. 56). In the centre, before the steps of the
temple, stood an altar surrounded by four oxen, the work of Myron
(Prop. iii. 31, 5). In the centre of the Palatine stood the palace
of Augustus, built in the years following 36 B.C., and renewed
after a fire in A.D. 3. It contained a small temple of Vesta
(C. I. L. i.2 p. 317), dedicated on the 28th of April 12 B.C., when
Augustus was elected pontifex maximus. Augustus's building
was completely transformed by later emperors, but the name
domus Augustana was retained in official use. The Area Apollinis
and its group of buildings suffered in the fire of Nero, and were
restored by Domitian. The whole was finally destroyed in the
great fire of 363 (Ammian. xxiii. 3, 3), but the Sibylline books were
saved.
To the north-west of the Area Palatina stood the Domus Tiberiana, a palace built by Tiberius on substructures of concrete which crown the Domus Tiberiana. north-west slope of the hill and form a platform now occupied by the Farnese gardens, overlooking the Clivus Victoriae. Caligula is said to have added to this palace on the side towards the Forum, making the temple of Castor into a vestibule, and to have connected it with the Capitol by a bridge whose piers were found by the temple of Augustus and the Basilica Julia; but this was destroyed after his death. At a later time the palace was extended so as to include the northern angle of the Palatine, which had once been covered with private houses. Among these were the dwellings of Q. Lutatius Catulus, Q. Hortensius, Scaurus, Crassus (Plin. H.N. xxxvi. 3, 24), whose house was afterwards bought by Cicero.[5] Many other wealthy Romans had houses on this part of the Palatine. The part now existing is little more than the gigantic substructure built to raise the principal rooms to the level of the top of the hill. The lowest parts of these face the Nova Via, opposite the Atrium Vestae, and many storeys of small vaulted rooms built in mixed brick and opus reticulatum rise one above the other to the higher levels.[6] The palace extends over the Clivus Victoriae, supported on lofty arches so as to leave the road unblocked; many travertine or marble stairs lead to the upper rooms, some starting from the Nova Via, others from the Clivus Victoriae. A large proportion of these substructures consist of dark rooms, some with no means of lighting, others with scanty borrowed light. Many small rooms and stairs scarcely 2 ft. wide can only have been used by slaves. The ground floors on the Nova Via and the Clivus Victoriae appear to have been shops, judging from their wide openings, with travertine sills, grooved for the wooden fronts with narrow doors, which Roman shops seem always to have had—very like those now used in the East. The upper and principal rooms were once richly decorated with marble linings, columns and mosaics; but little of these now remains. The upper part of the palace, that above the Clivus Victoriae, is faced wholly with brickwork, no opus reticulatum being used as in the lower portions by the Nova Via. This marks a difference of date, and this is confirmed by the occurrence of brick stamps of the 2nd century A.D.
The next great addition to the buildings of the Palatine was the magnificent suite of state apartments built by Domitian, over Flavian Palace. a deep natural valley running across the hill (see Plan). The valley was filled up and the level of the new palace raised to a considerable height above the natural soil. Remains of a house, decorated with painting and rich marbles, exist under Domitian's peristyle, partly destroyed by the foundations of cast concrete which cut right through it. The floor of this house shows the original level, far below that of the Flavian palace. This building is connected with the palace of Caligula by a branch subterranean passage leading into the earlier crypto-porticus. It consists of a block of state-rooms, in the centre of which is a large open peristyle, with columns of oriental marble, at one end of which is the grand triclinium with magnificent paving of opus sectile in red and green basalt and coloured marbles, a piece of which is well preserved; next to the triclinium, on to which it opens with large windows, is a nymphaeum or room with marble-lined fountain and recesses for plants and statues. On the opposite side of the peristyle is a large throne-room, the walls of which were adorned with rows of pavonazzetto and giallo columns and large marble niches, in which were colossal statues of porphyry and basalt; at one side of this is the basilica, with central nave and apse and narrow aisles, over which were galleries. The apse, in which was the emperor's throne, is screened off by open marble cancelli, a part of which still exists. It is of great interest as showing the origin of the Christian basilica (see Basilica).[7] On the other side of the throne-room is the lararium, with altar and pedestal for a statue; next to this is the grand staircase, which led to the upper rooms, now destroyed. The whole building, both floor and walls, was covered with the richest oriental marbles. Outside were colonnades or porticus,—on one side of cipollino, on the other of travertine, the latter stuccoed and painted. The magnificence of the whole, crowded with fine Greek sculpture and covered with polished marbles of the most brilliant colours, is difficult now to realize; a glowing description is given by Statius (Silv. iv. 11, 18; see also Plut. Poplic. 15, and Mart. viii. 36). Doors were arranged in the throne-room and basilica so that the emperor could slip out unobserved and reach by a staircase (g on Plan) the crypto-porticus which communicates with Caligula's palace. The vault of this passage was covered with mosaic of mixed marble and glass, a few fragments of which still remain; its walls were lined with rich marbles; it was lighted by a series of windows in the springing of the vault. This, as well as the Flavian palace, appears to have suffered more than once from fire, and in many places important restorations of the time of Severus, and some as late as the 4th century, are evident. In 1720-28 extensive excavations were made here for the Farnese duke of Parma, and an immense quantity of statues and marble architectural fragments were discovered, many of which are now at Naples and elsewhere. Among them were sixteen beautiful fluted columns of pavonazzetto and giallo, fragments of the basalt statues, and an immense door-sill of Pentelic marble, now used for the high altar of the Pantheon; these all came from the throne-room. The excavations were carried on by Bianchini, who published a book on the subject.[8]
In the middle of the slopes of the Palatine, towards the Circus Maximus, are considerable remains of buildings set against the early Domus Gelotiana. wall and covering one of its projecting spurs, consisting in a series of rooms with a long Corinthian colonnade. The rooms were partly marble-lined and partly decorated with painted stucco, on which are incised a number of interesting inscriptions and rude drawings. Here, in 1856, was found the celebrated caricature of the Crucified Christ, now in the Museo Kircheriano.[9] The inscription CORINTHVS . EXIT . DE . PEDAGOGIO suggests that this building was at one time used as a school, perhaps for the imperial slaves.[10] A number of soldiers names also occur, e.g. HILARVS . MI . V . D . N . (Hilarus miles vestitor domini nostri?); some are in mixed Latin and Greek characters. After one pair of names is inscribed PEREG, showing that they belonged to the corps called frumentarii stationed in the Castra Peregrinorum on the Caelian. Most of these inscriptions appear to be as early as the 1st century A.D.[11] These interesting graffiti have in great part perished during the last few years. Some inscriptions found in the larger rooms seem to indicate that the imperial wardrobe found a place in them.
To the south of the Flavian state-rooms, on the side of the hill overlooking the Circus, was a building with a central peristyle (“Palace of Domitian” on Plan), which was excavated in 1775 and
- ↑ TEMPLVM . APOLLINIS . IN . SOLO . MAGNAM . PARTEM . EMPTO . FECI (Mon. Anc. 4, 1).
- ↑ See Dio Cass. xlix. 15, liii. 1, and C. I. L. i.2 p. 331.
- ↑ See also Suet. Aug. 52, whose account is rather different.
- ↑ Schol. to Juv. i. 128, and Suet. Aug. 29.
- ↑ Cic. Pro Domo, 43; Val. Max. vi. 3, 1; and see Becker, Handb. i. p. 423.
- ↑ At this point the Palatine is cut away into four stages like gigantic steps; the lowest is the floor of the Atrium Vestae, the second the Nova Via, the third the Clivus Victoriae, and the top of the hill forms the fourth.
- ↑ The brick stamps on the tiles laid under the marble paving of the basilica have CN . DOMITI . AMANDI . VALEAT . QVI . FECIT.,—the last three words a common augury of good luck stamped on bricks or amphorae.
- ↑ Pal. dei Cesari (Verona, 1738); see Guattani, Not. di Antich. (1798).
- ↑ See Kraus, Das Spottcrucifix vom Palatin (Freiburg, 1872), and Becker, Das Spottcrucifix, &c. (Breslau, 1866).
- ↑ The paedagagium was, however, on the Caelian. Huelsen suggests that it is here used as a slang term for a prison.
- ↑ See Henzen, in the Bull. Inst., 1863, p. 72, and 1867, p. 113.
