Pagan and Christian Rome Part 3

[7] In chapter v., p. 122, of _Ancient Rome_, I have attributed these _graffiti_ to the second half of the first century; but after a careful examination of the structure of the wall, on the plaster of which they are scratched, I am convinced that they must have been written towards the end of the second century.

[8] Orelli, 4024, _Digest L._, iv. 18, 7.

[9] See Ulpian: _De officio Procons._, i. 3.

[10] Lampridius, _Heliog._, 3.

[11] See Greppo: _Memoire sur les laraires de l'empereur Alexandre Severe_.

[12] The name of the villa was _Ca.s.siac.u.m_; its memory has lasted to the present age. See the memoir of Luigi Biraghi, _S. Agostino a Ca.s.sago di Brianza._ Milano, 1854.

[13] See _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1865, p. 50.

[14] It contains the words PETRO LILLVTI PAVLO. They are surely genuine and ancient. I examined them in company with Mommsen, Jordan, and de Rossi, and they attributed them to the beginning of the third century of our era. The best suggestion regarding their origin is that they belong to a person, probably Christian, who used the name Petrus as _gentilitium_, and Paulus as _cognomen_, and who was the son of Lillutus, however barbaric this last name may sound.

[15] See de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1863, p.

49.--Rohault de Fleury: _L'arc de triomphe de Constantin_, in the _Revue archeologique_, Sept. 1863, p. 250.--W. Henzen: _Bullettino dell' Inst.i.tuto_, 1863, p. 183.

[16] See Bibliography, p. 1. The t.i.tle of the book may be translated thus: _On the pagan and profane objects transferred to churches for their use and adornment_.

[17] The two busts of S. Peter and S. Paul, described in Cancellieri's book, _Memorie storiche delle sacre teste dei santi apostoli Pietro e Paolo_, Roma, Ferretti, 1852 (second edition), were stolen by the French revolutionists in 1799.

[18] See _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, part VI., No. 351.

[19] In the Byzantine period this church and the adjoining monastery were called _casa Barbara patricia_. They are now comprised within the cloisters of S. Antonio all' Esquilino, on the left side of S. Maria Maggiore.

[20] These incrustations, and the basilica to which they belong, have been ill.u.s.trated by Ciampini: _Vetera monumenta_, vol. i. plates xxii.-xxiv.--D'Agincourt: _Histoire de l'art, Peinture_, pl. xiii.

3.--Minutoli: _Ueber die Anfertigung und die Nutzanwendung der farbigen Glaser bei den Alten_, pl. iv.--De Rossi: _La basilica di Giunio Ba.s.so_, in the _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1871, p.

46.

[21] See Andrea Amoroso: _Le basiliche cristiane di Parenzo._ Parenzo, Coana, 1891.--Mommsen: _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. v. part i. nos. 365-367.

[22] See Lovatelli: _I labirinti e il loro simbolismo nell' eta di mezzo_, in the _Nuova Antologia_, 16 Agosto, 1890.--Arne: _Carrelages emailles du moyen age_.--Eugene Muntz: _Etudes iconographiques et archeologiques sur le moyen age_.

[23] See Pietro Pericoli: _Lo spedale di S. Maria della Consolazione_.

Imola Galeati, p. 64.

[24] Published in two volumes with the t.i.tle: _Indicazione delle immagini di Maria, collocate sulle mura esterne di Roma._ Ferretti, 1853.

[25] The inscription, after all, was very mild in comparison with the violent formula imposed upon Alexander VII. It read: "In memory of the absolution given by Clement VIII. to Henry IV. of France and Navarre, September 17, 1595."

[26] The amphora corresponds to 26.26 litres; the metreta to 39.39 litres; the modius to 8.75 litres. The pound, divided into twelve ounces, corresponds to 327.45 grammes, a little more than 11 English ounces.

[27] See _Antichi pesi inscritti del museo capitolino_, in the _Bullettino della commissione archeologica comunale di Roma_, 1884, p.

61, pls. vi., vii.

[28] See de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1864, p. 57.

[29] See _Acta purgationis Caeciliani_, post Optati opp. ed Dupin, p.

168.

[30] _Confess._ vi. 2.

[31] See Gaetano Marini: _Iscrizioni doliari_, p. 114, n.

279.--Giuseppe Gatti: _La lex horreorum_, in the _Bullettino della commissione archeologica comunale di Roma_, 1885, p. 110.

[32] The place was called _in tribus fatis_, from the three statues of sibyls described by Pliny, _H. N._ x.x.xiv. See _Goth._ i. 25.

[33]

"Sank into the great flower, that is adorned With leaves so many, and thence reascended To where its love abideth evermore."

_Longfellow's Translation._

CHAPTER II.

PAGAN SHRINES AND TEMPLES.

Ancient temples as galleries of art.--The adornment of statues with jewelry, etc.--Offerings and sacrifices by individuals.--Stores of ex-votos found in the _favissae_ or vaults of temples.--Instances of these brought to light within recent years.--Remarkable wealth of one at Veii.--The altars of ancient Rome.--The _ara maxima Herculis_.--The _Roma Quadrata_.--The altar of Aius Locutius.--That of Dis and Proserpina.--Its connection with the Saecular Games.--The discovery of the inscription describing these, in 1890.--The _ara pacis Augustae_.--The _ara incendii Neroniani_.--Temples excavated in my time.--That of Jupiter Capitolinus.--History of its ruins.--The Capitol as a place for posting official announcements.--The Temple of Isis and Serapis.--The number of sculptures discovered on its site.--The Temple of Neptune.--Its remains in the Piazza di Pietra.--The Temple of Augustus.--The _Sacellum Sanci_.

Ancient guide-books of Rome, published in the middle of the fourth century,[34] mention four hundred and twenty-four temples, three hundred and four shrines, eighty statues of G.o.ds, of precious metal, sixty-four of ivory, and three thousand seven hundred and eighty-five miscellaneous bronze statues. The number of marble statues is not given. It has been said, however, that Rome had two populations of equal size, one alive, and one of marble.

I have had the opportunity of witnessing or conducting the discovery of several temples, altars, shrines, and bronze statues. The number of marble statues and busts discovered in the last twenty-five years, either in Rome or the Campagna, may be stated at one thousand.

Before beginning the description of these beautiful monuments, I must allude to some details concerning the management and organization of ancient places of worship, upon which recent discoveries have thrown a considerable, and in some cases, unexpected light.

Roman temples, like the churches of the present day, were used not only as places of worship, but as galleries of pictures, museums of statuary, and "cabinets" of precious objects. In chapter v. of "Ancient Rome," I have given the catalogue of the works of art displayed in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine. The list includes: The Apollo and Artemis driving a quadriga, by Lysias; fifty statues of the Danaids; fifty of the sons of Egypt; the Herakles of Lysippos; Augustus with the attributes of Apollo (a bronze statue fifty feet high); the pediment of the temple, by Bupalos and Anthermos; statues of Apollo, by Skopas; Leto, by Kephisodotos, son of Praxiteles; Artemis, by Timotheos; and the nine Muses; also a chandelier, formerly dedicated by Alexander the Great at Kyme; medallions of eminent men; a collection of gold plate; another of gems and intaglios; ivory carvings; specimens of palaeography; and two libraries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Entablature of the Temple of Concord.]

The Temple of Apollo was by no means the only sacred museum of ancient Rome; there were scores of them, beginning with the Temple of Concord, so emphatically praised by Pliny. This temple, built by Camillus, at the foot of the Capitol, and restored by Tiberius and Septimius Severus, was still standing at the time of Pope Hadrian I.

(772-795), when the inscription on its front was copied for the last time by the _Einsiedlensis_. It was razed to the ground towards 1450.

"When I made my first visit to Rome," says Poggio Bracciolini, "I saw the Temple of Concord almost intact (_aedem fere integram_), built of white marble. Since then the Romans have demolished it, and turned the structure into a lime-kiln." The platform of the temple and a few fragments of its architectural decorations were discovered in 1817.

The reader may appreciate the grace of these decorations, from a fragment of the entablature now in the portico of the Tabularium, and one of the capitals of the cella, now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori.

The cella contained one central and ten side niches, in which eleven masterpieces of Greek chisels were placed, namely, the Apollo and Hera, by Baton; Leto nursing Apollo and Artemis, by Euphranor; Asklepios and Hygieia, by Nikeratos; Ares and Hermes, by Piston; and Zeus, Athena, and Demeter, by Sthennis. The name of the sculptor of the Concordia in the apse is not known. Pliny speaks also of a picture by Theodoros, representing Ca.s.sandra; of four elephants, cut in obsidian, a miracle of skill and labor, and of a collection of precious stones, among which was the sardonyx set in the legendary ring of Polykrates of Samos. Most of these treasures had been offered to the G.o.ddess by Augustus, moved by the liberality which Julius Caesar had shown towards his ancestral G.o.ddess, Venus Genetrix. We know from Pliny, x.x.xv. 9, that Caesar was the first to give due honor to paintings, by exhibiting them in his Forum Julium. He gave about $72,000 (eighty talents), for two works of Timomachos, representing Medea and Ajax. At the base of the Temple of Venus Genetrix he placed his own equestrian statue, the horse of which, modelled by Lysippos, had once supported the figure of Alexander the Great. The statue of Venus was the work of Arkesilaos, and her breast was covered with strings of British pearls. Pliny (x.x.xvii. 5), after mentioning the collection of gems made by Scaurus, and another made by Mithradates, which Pompey the Great had offered to Jupiter Capitolinus, adds: "These examples were surpa.s.sed by Caesar the dictator, who offered to Venus Genetrix six collections of cameos and intaglios."

A descriptive catalogue of these valuables and works of art was kept in each temple, and sometimes engraved on marble. The inventories included also the furniture and properties of the sacristy. In 1871 the following remarkable doc.u.ment was discovered in the Temple of Diana Nemorensis. The inventory, engraved on a marble pillar three feet high, is now preserved in the Orsini Castle at Nemi. It has been published by Henzen in "Hermes," vol. vi. p. 8, and reads as follows, in translation:--

Objects offered to [or belonging to] both temples [the temple of Isis and that of Bubastis]:--Seventeen statues; one head of the Sun; four silver images; one medallion; two bronze altars; one tripod (in the shape of one at Delphi); a cup for libations; a patera; a diadem [for the statue of the G.o.ddess] studded with gems; a sistrum of gilded silver; a gilt cup; a patera ornamented with ears of corn; a necklace studded with beryls; two bracelets with gems; seven necklaces with gems; nine ear-rings with gems; two nauplia [rare sh.e.l.ls from the Propontis]; a crown with twenty-one topazes and eighty carbuncles; a railing of bra.s.s supported by eight _hermulae_; a linen costume comprising a tunica, a pallium, a belt, and a stola, all trimmed with silver; a like costume without tr.i.m.m.i.n.g.

[Objects offered] to Bubastis:--A costume of purple silk; another of turquoise color; a marble vase with pedestal; a water jug; a linen costume with gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and a golden girdle; another of plain white linen.

The objects described in this catalogue did not belong to the Temple of Diana itself, one of the wealthiest in central Italy; but to two small shrines, of Isis and Bubastis, built by a devotee within the sacred enclosure, on the north side of the square.