Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/824

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

804 EOMA. indeed, they are mentioned in one breath in the Notit'm. (" Aedem Matris Deum et Apollinis Rham- nusii.") That tliis Tholus Cybeles may liave been the temple which once occupied the site of the present circular church of S. Teodoro before referred to, we can only oft'er a conjecture; its situation, at least, admirably corresponds with that of the temple of the Idaean Jlother. We tiiui a temple of this deity, as well as one of JuvENTAS mentioned in the Jlonumentum Ancy- ranum (tab. iv. 1. &) as erected by Augustus on the Pahitine. Tiie first of these may, however, have been only a restoration of the ancient temple. We can hardly conclude from the word feci that it was an entirely new and separate structure; since we find the same word used in that record with relation to other edifices which were among the most ancient in Eome, and of which it is not likely that there should have been duplicates : such as the temple of Jupiter Feretrius on the Capitol, that of Quirinus, that of Juno Eegina on the Aventine, and others. In these cases it seems probable that the edifices were in such a ruinous state from long neglect that Augustus funnd it necessary to rebuild them from their foundations; which would justify the use of the V!0ifeci instead oirefeci, but hardly the regarding of them as entirely new temples. The great care used by Augustus in restoring the ancient temples is alluded to by Horace (^Od. iii. 6). The temple of Juventas may possibly have been new; at all events it could hardly have been the one dedicated by C. Liciiiius LucuIIus about the same time as that of the JMater Magna Idaea, since the former was in the Circus Maximus. (Liv. xxxvi. 36 ; of. Cic. Brut. 18, ad Att. i. 18.) What the Pentapvlum may have been which is mentioned in the Notitia between the temple of Apollo and the palace of Augustus, it is difficult to say, except that it was probably a building with five gates. Preller (^Re(jionen, p. 183) cites a passage from an anonymous describer of the Antiquities of Constantinople in Banduri (^Imp. Orient, i. p. 21), in which a building in that city called Tetrapylwn, which was used for depositing and bewailing the corpse of the emperor, or of that of any member of his family, is mentioned ; and as this building is said to have been imitated from one at Rome, Preller thinks it highly probable that the Pentapylum in question may have afforded the model, and been used for a similar purpose. Of the temples of Jutitee Victor and Jupiter Stator — the former near the Nova Via and Porta Jlugionis, the latter farther off towards the Sacra Via — we have already spoken when describing the Ro- mulean city; besides which there seems to have been a temple of Jupiter Propugnator, probably of the time of the Antonines, known only from an in- scription. (Gruter. ccc. 2; Orell. 42; Canina, /«- dicazione, p. 469.) We have also had occasion to mention the Curiae Veteres and the sacellum of FoRTL'N'.i Respiciens. Other ancient buildings and shrines on the Palatine, the sites of which cannot be exactly determined, were the Curia Saliorum (Palatinorum), where the ancilia and the lituus Romuli were preserved, probably not far from the temple of Vesta (Dionys. ii. 70 ; Cic. Biv. i. 17 ; Gruter, Inscr. clxiii. 5; Orell. 2244); a fanum, or Ara Febris (Cic. Ler/. ii. 11; Val. Mas. ii. 5. § 6; Plin. ii. 5), an ancient sacellum of the Dea Viriplaca, the appeasing deity of connubial quarrels (Val. Max. ii. 1. § 6); and an ROJIA. 'A(fpoSi(noj', or Temple of Venus (Dion Cas.s. Ixxiv. 3). When the Romans began to improve their do- mestic architecture, and to build finer houses than tho.se which had contented their more simple ances- tors, the Palatine, from its excellent and convenient situation, early became a fashionable quarter. We have already alluded slightly to some of the more noted residences on this hill. The house of Vitru- vius Vaccus is one of the most ancient which we find mentioned in this quarter. It was pulled down in B. c. 330 in consequence of the treasonous practices of its owner ; after which the site remained unbuilt upon, and obtained the name of Vacci Prata (Liv. viii. 19 ; Ps. Cic. p. Dom. 38) ; but how long it remained in this state it is impossible to say. The Porticus Catuli rose on the Palatine from a similar cause. Its site had previously been occupied by the house of M. Fulvius Flaccus, wlio perished in the sedition of C. Gracchus : the house was then raze.i, and the ground on which it stood called Flacciana Area, till this portico was erected on it by Q. Luta- tius Catulus, after his Cimbric victory. (Val. Mas. vi. 3. § 1 ; Ps. Cic. p. Dom. 43.) Near it stood the House of Cicero which he bought of Crassus, — probably not the celebrated orator, — the fate of which we have already related. It seems to have been on the NE. side of the Palatine, as Cicero is described by Plutarch as traversing the Sacra Via in order to arrive at the forum (Cic. 22): and Vettius calls Cicero " vicinum consulis," that is, of Caesar, who then dwelt in the Regia (acMM. ii. 24). Catiline's House was also on the Palatine, and was annexed by Augustus to his residence. (Suet. III. Grumin. 17.) Here also was a House of Antonius, which Augustus presented to Agrippa and Messala (Dion Cass. liii. 27) ; and also the House of Scaurus, famed for its magnificence. (Cic. <Sca«r. 27; Plin. xxxvi. 3.) With the reign of Augustus a new era commenced for the Palatine. It was now marked out for the imperial residence; and in process of time, the buildings erected by successive emperors monopolised the hill, and excluded all private possessions. Au- gustus was born in this Region, at a place called AD Capita Bubui.a, the situation of which we are unable to determine (Suet. Aug. 5). In early man- hood he occupied the house of the orator C. Licinius Calvus " juxta forum super scalas anularias" (/6. 72); but neither can the site of this be more defi- nitely fixed. Hence he removed to the Palatine, where he at first occupied the House of Hortensius, a dwelling conspicuous neither for size nor splendour. (/6.) After his victory over Sextus Pompeius, he appears to have purchased several houses adjoining his own, and to have vowed the Temple of Apollo, which he afterwards built (Veil. Pat. ii. 81; Dion Cass. Ixix. 15.) This temple, the second dedicated to that deity at Rome — the earlier one being in the Circus Flaminius — does not, however, appear to have been begun till after the battle of Actium, or at all events the plan of it was extended after that event. It is well known that after that victory Augustus dedicated a temple to the Leucadian Apollo near Actium, and in like manner the new structure on the Palatine was referred to the same deity ; whence the phrases " Actius Apollo" ('irg. Aen. viii. 704; Prop. iv. 6. 67), and Phoebus Navalis " ( — " ubi Navali stant sacra Palatia Phoebo," Prop. iv. 1 . 3). It was dedicated in b. c. 27. It was surrounded with a portico containing the Bibuothecae Graeca