again partly laid bare in 1869 and the following years. This has often, but wrongly, been called the palace of Augustus; we should rather see in it the dwelling-rooms of the Flavian palace. Adjoining it is the so-called stadium of the Palatine (“Hippodromus” on Plan), begun by Domitian, enlarged by Hadrian, and much altered or restored by Severus. The greater part of the outer walls and the large exedra or apse at the side, with upper floor for the emperor's seat, are of the time of Hadrian, as is shown by the brick stamps, and the character of the brick facing, which much resembles that of the Flavian time (bricks 1½ in. and joints ½ in. thick).[1] The stadium is surrounded with colonnade of engaged shafts, forming a sort of aisle with gallery over it. Except those at the curved end, which are of Hadrian's time, these piers are of the time of Severus, as are also all the flat piers along the outer wall,—one opposite each of those in the inner line. Severus restored the galleries after the great fire of A.D. 191. This building was the hippodromus Palatii; the word here means, not a racecourse, but a garden (Plin. Epp. 5, 6, 19).
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| From Richter's Topographie der Stadt Rom, by permission of C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. | Emery Walker sc. |
Fig. 10.—Plan of the Palatine. | |
In addition to the stadium, Hadrian built a number of very handsome rooms, forming a palace on the south-east side and at the south-west end of the stadium. These rooms were partly destroyed Hadrian's palace. and partly hidden by the later palace of Severus, the foundations of which in many places cut through and render useless the highly decorated rooms of Hadrian. The finest of these which is now visible is a room with a large window opening into the stadium near the south angle; it has intersecting barrel vaults, with deep coffers, richly ornamented in stucco. The oval structure shown in the plan (fig. 10), with other still later additions, belongs to the 6th century; in its walls, of opus mixtum, are found brick stamps of the reign of Theodoric, c. 500.
The palace of Septimius Severus was very extensive and of enormous height; it extends not only all over the south angle of the Palatine but also a long way into the valley of the Circus Maximus and towards the Coelian. This part (like Caligula's palace) is carried on very lofty arched substructures, so as to form a level, uniform with the top of the hill, on which the grand apartments stood. The whole height from the base of the Palatine to several storeys above its summit must have been enormous. Little now remains of the highest storeys, except part of a grand staircase which led to them. Extensive baths, originally decorated with marble linings and mosaics in glass and
- ↑ In parts of the outer wall brick stamps of the Flavian period appear, e.g. FLAVI . AVG . L . CLONI—“[A brick] of Flavius Clonus, freedman of Augustus” (C. I. L. xv. 1149).
