Apartments in Rome

ROOM I: contains a selection of the most important articles found on the Quirinale and on the Esquiline at the ti me of the construction of new buildings there during the second half of the nineteenth century. There is also material from the Esquiline necro­polis in ROOM Il together with material from a «favissa» (a well in which objects dedicated to a divinity were placed), discovered during restoration work carried out on the staircase of S. Maria della Vittoria.

ROOM 111 contains architectonic terracotta works: i.e. clay decorative elements which adorned the wooden structures of the archaic shrines and temples built on the Campidoglio.

In the GALLERV and in the ATRIUM there is a selection of do mestic utensils, which were in everyday use. Among the precious objects there are the contents of the third century A.D. tomb of a young bride, Crepereia Tryphaena, including her wedding ring engraved with the name of her husband and a wooden doli with articulated limbs.

In the MOSAIC ROOM there is a small group of polychrome mosaics on display together with a selection of marble objects.

Tags: Antiquarium Comunale, Campidoglio, Esquiline, Palazzo Caffarelli, Quirinale

The Lapidaria Gallery which in reached from the ground floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, was excavated during the years 1939-40 to join up the three Palazzi Capitolini. It contains Greek, Roman Byzantine, Medieval and Modern inscriptions.

Tags: Lapidaria Gallery, Palazzo dei Conservatori

The CAPITOLINE PICTURE GALLERY consists essentially of pictures from the Sacchetti and Pio Collections. works by Italian and foreign painters from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

The paintings in ROOM I are largely from the Emilian school, with a Holy Family by Dosso Dossi, four works by Garofalo (Madonna with child, Annunciation, Madonna in Glory, Holy Family), and an Adoration of the Magi and a Flight into Egypt by Scarsellino. ROOM II contains works from the sixteenth century Venetian school: a Portrait of a woman (reputed to be S. Margherita) by Girolamo Savoldo; Strength and Temperance, two panels by Paolo Veronese. There is also a copy of his Rape of Europa in the Doge’s Palace in Venice, painted in collaboration with members of his studio; an unfinished painting by Palma il Vecchio (Christ and the Adulteress); an early work by Titian (the Baptism of Christ); a Portrait of a Crossbowman by Lorenzo Lotto; the Good Samaritan by Jacopo Bassano; a repentant Mary Magdalen by Domenico Tintoretto.

ROOM 111 contains important works by foreign artists who were working in Italy in the seventeenth century: Romulus and Remus suckled by the Wolf, by Rubens; Portrait of the engravers Piet de Jode the Elder and Younger and Portrait of the painters Luke and Cornelius de Wael by Van Dyck; Portrait of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, by Velasquez; The Allegory of Vanity, by Simon Vouet; Wedding of St. Catherine, by Denis Calvaert.

ROOM IV is dedicated to works of the fourteenth century and includes those from the Sterbini collection. Of particular interest there is an Ascension, by Barnaba da Modena.

The CINI GALLERV [ROOM V) takes its name from the donor of an important collection which makes up the most important part of the porcelains on display, produced by the potteries of Capodimonte, Meissen etc.

The main feature of the HERCOLE’S ROOM [ROOM VI) is the large statue of Hercules in glit bronze.

In the St. PETRONILLA’S ROOM (ROOM VII). there is an enormous picture by Guercino of the burial and ascension of S. Petronilla; this was formerly in St. Peter’s, where is has been replaced by a mosaic copy. Also by Guercino there is Sto John the Baptist, Antonius and Cleopatra, a Persian Sybil, St. Matthew and he Angel. There is al so a Giovanni Lanfranco: Herminia among the Shepherds, a Francesco Albani: the Nativity of the Virgin, and finally a Gipsy fortune teller attributed to the young Caravaggio.

The NEW HALL [ROOM VIII) contains two works by Pietro da Cortona: Madonna and Child, Allumiere di Tolfa, and two landscapes by Domenichino, and the Triumph of Flora, a replica or copy of a painting in the Louvre by Nicholas Poussin.

In the CORRIDOR (ROOM IX) there are a Madonna and Child and St. Francis worshipping the Crucifix by Annibale Carracci and another Madonna and Child by Francesco Albani.

Attached to the Pinacoteca is the MEDAGLIERE; it contains Roman coins from the republican, imperial, Byzantine, Medieval and modern periods.

Tags: Capitoline Picture Gallery, Caravaggio, Domenico Tintoretto, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Guercino, Rubens, Velasquez

The first three rooms of this museum contain fragments of statues, sarcophagi and urns etc. In the centre of ROOM IV is the elegant statue of Polymnia, a copy of an Hellenistic work from the second century B.C., in ROOM V it is worth noting the votive relief showing Asclepius, a Greek original of the fourty century B.C., a headless statue of Aphrodite in the style of Praxiteles and the Pallas Athena from the Castro Pretorio, a copy of the one by Cefisodorus.

In ROOMS VI and VII there are other reliefs, altars and portraits, including one of Domitian. ROOM VIII was used as a Lutheran Chapel by the German Embassy, built on top of a cell of the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter, the remains of which can be clearly distinguished. Among other things displayed here there are: a statue of a goddess (Persephone) from an original from the Pelepponese; a discus thrower (discobolus) from an original by Naucide, son of Polycleitus (fourth century B.C.); a colossal statue of Athena, a copy of the original by Cresilas.

Going up to the third floor we find another relief from the so-called “Arch of Portugal” with the triumph of the Empress Sabina and two rare examples of «opus sectile marmoreum» figuring a struggle between tigers and bulls from the basilica of Junius Bassus.

Tags: Aphrodite, Asclepius, basilica of Junius Bassus, Capitoline Temple of Jupiter, Museo Nuovo, Polymnia, Praxiteles, The New Museum

This starts with tlie three HALLS OF MODERN POMPS with the lists of magistrates of the city from 1640 onwards and a collection of herms and busts.

After these rooms, the Gallery of Orti Lamiani contains the sculptures found in the Lamiani gardens on the Esquiline. Of particular interest are a seated figure of a Girl, an Hellenistic work dating from the second century B. C., and a Centaur’s head, probably an original from the second school of Pergamus. In the centre there is the Venus of the Esquiline, dating from the end of the Republic.

The HALL OF MAGISTRATES takes its name from two statues of Magistrates conducting the opening ceremonies of the Games in the Circus, dating from the beginning of the fourth century. Then there are the two HALLS OF THE ARCHAIC MONUMENTS, with an original Greek lion’s head dating from the first half of the fifth century B.C. and an lonic funeral stele dating from the end of the sixth century B.C., the latter perhaps originating in Southern Italy.

The two HALLS OF CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS contain inscriptions, epigraphs, sarcophagi and sculptures, including the head of a Byzantine empress, believed to be Amalasunta, daughter of Theodoricus, King of the Goths, which probably dates from the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century A.C.

The HALL OF THE FIREPLACE, built from ancient remains, contains Greek vases and antefixes tram Capua, dating from the sixth and the third centuries B.C.

The two CASTELLANI HALLS contain the Castellani collection, which was given to the city in 1867. In the centre of the first room there is the Capitoline Tensa (Roman ritual carriage for statues of the Gods). This is a reconstruction of a carriage with reliefs on bronze plaques depicting episodes of the Trojan cycle (third century); drinking bowl of Aristonothos with a representation of Plysses and Poliphemus trom the seventh century B.C.

In the HALL Of THE BRONZES there are the remains of the colossal statue of Costanzo Il: the head, a hand and the orb. There is also a statuette of a Lar dancing with a rhyton (drinking horn) in hand (first century A.C.) and a funeral bed from Amiternum inlaid with silver ornamentation (first century A.C.).

Finally the HALL OF THE ORTI MECENAZIANI contains sculptures from the gardens of Maecenas: a fighting Hercules, from an originai by Lysippus; a hanging Marsia, one of the best copies of the originai from the school of Rhodes (second first century B.C.); a relief with a dancing Maenad, a Roman copy by Callimacus.

The NEW WING contains the sculptures which have been discovered in the most recent excavations and some remains from the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which, according to tradition, goes back to Tarquinius Priscus; this covered the area of the New Wing, the New Museum and the adjoining garden; it had three cells and had been decorated by Vulca di Veio.

In ROOM Ione should note the fragment of a fresco from a tomb from the Esquiline of the third century B.C., the earliest known Roman painting of a historical subject. ROOMS II and III contain architectural decorations and Roman portraits.

A Greek original from the fifth century B.C. Apollo the archer from the Temple of Apollo Sosianus, is on view in ROOM IV with an excellent copy of the Aristogeiton, a statue belonging to the group of Tyrannicides by Kritios and Nesiotes (fifth century B.C.).

ROOMS V and VI contain reliefs and friezes. Worth mentioning in ROOM VII are the fragments of the frieze which decorated the celi of the Temple of Jupiter Sosianus, figuring a triumphal procession.

Tags: Aristogeiton, Callimacus, Museum of Palazzo dei Conservatori, Tarquinius Priscus

The LITTLE ENTRANCE COURT contains the grandiose remains of the statue of Costanti ne (head, arm, leg, hand and feet); the colossal acrolith was in the apse of the Basilica of Constantine. In the opposite PORTICO is the head of Costantius II, another colossal statue. On the left hand walls there are reliefs representing the provinces conquered by Rome, which come from the cella of the Temple of Hadrian in Piazza di Pietra.

On the first landing of the STAIRCASE there are four magnificent reliefs from the second century A.C. three of which (Marcus Aurelius sacrificing in front of the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter; Triumph of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius pardoning his conquered enemies) come from the arch dedicated to Marcus Aurelius; the fourth depicts Hadrian’s entry into Rome and comes from the arch erected in this emperor’s honour. On the second landing there is another relief, from the Arch of Portugal, depicting Hadrian pronouncing a funeral eulogy on his wife Sabina, and the statue of Charles of Anjou, which is attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio.

From here one enters the Halls of the Conservators which make up an extremely rich complex. The first (HORATII AND CURIATII HALL), painted in fresco with the history of the origins of Rome by the Cavaliere d’Arbino, contains at either end two of the masterpieces of baroque sculpture: a marble statue of Urban VIII by Bernini and helpers, and Alessandro Algardi’s bronze statue of Innocent X. The second room HALL OF THE CAPTAINS, is adorned with frescoes portraying episodes from the history of republican Rome by Tommaso Laureti and contains five marble statues of modern Roman generals: Marcantonio Colonna, by Nicolò Pippi; Alessandro Farnese, with a head by Ippolito Buzio on an ancient statue. Carlo Barberini, with the head by Bernini and arms and legs by Algardi on an ancient torso; Gianfrancesco Aldobrandini and Tommaso Rospigliosi, by Ercole Ferrata. The HALL OF MARIO’S TRlUMPHS is named after the frieze by Michele Alberti and Giovan Paolo Rossetti. In the centre of the room there is the famous bronze Spio narius (boy with a thorn), a work of the late Hellenistic period. There is al so a statue of Camillus from the Augustan period, a bronze bust reputed to be of Junius Brutus and a bronze bowl with an inscription in Greek of Mythridates, loot from the Mythridatic War.

In the SHE - WOlF HAll which has frescoes of subjects trom Roman history by Giacomo Ripanda, there is the famous bronze Wolf of the Capitol, a sculpture from the sixth . fifth centuries B.C. derived from an lonian . Greek type and attributed to the school of Vulca di Veio, who decorated the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter; according to tradition the twins were added by Antonio del Pollaiolo. The Fasti Consulares fragments which came from the Arch of Augustus are displayed on the end wall.

After the WOLF HALL there follow the HALL OF THE GEES, with a delightful green dog; the HALL OF THE EAGLES, with a painting by G.F. Romanelli of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; the HALL OF THE ARRAS with tapestries of Romulus and Remus (trom the painting by Rubens) the Vestal Tuzia, Camillus, the Dea Roma produced in the Roman factory of S. Michele between 1764 and 1768.

After the NEW CHAPEL and the HALL OF THE PUNIC WARS with frescoes by Jacopo Ripanda one passes into the OLD CHAPEL with a roof decorated with frescoes and stuccos by M. Alberti and G. P. Rossetti. On the walls there is a fresco by Antonio da Viterbo depicting the Madonna delle Scale; the four Evangelists by the school of Caravaggio; portraits of Saint Cecilia, Alessio, Eustachio and Ludovica Albertoni - by G. F. Romanelli.

In the corridor, together with sixteenth century Flemish tapestry of a feast at the Colosseum, there are some tempera views of Rome by Gaspare Vanvitelli. Ludovico Carracci: The Charity; Jacopo Bassano: Adoration of the three Magi; Guido Reni: Putto with torch; A. Carracci: St. Jerome.

Tags: Bernini, Guido Reni, Ludovico Carracci, Marcus Aurelius, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rubens

In the wall of the COURT opposite the entrance there is a tablet placed there in 1734 to commemorate the setting up of the Museum. Beneath this and above the fountain reclines the colossal statue of Oceano from the first century B.C. popularly called Marforio, one of the talking statues of Rome. The Portico to the right of the courtyard contains the Egyptian Collection, with sculptures coming in large part from the Temple of Isis in the Campus Martius; of particular interest are the three grey granite columns decorated with figures of priests; the two Cynocephali in the same stone come from the tomb of Nectanebo Il (fouth century B.C.).

Among the sculptures in the ATRIUM are the statue of Minerva from a Greek original of the middle of the fifth century B.C., the statue of the Emperor Hadrian in Pontifical robes, a female divinity, possibly Demetra. from an original of the fifth century B.C., Faustina the elder, a copy of a statue of the fifth century B.C., and a group of Polyphemus and a companion of Ulysses from the late Roman period.

THE GROUND FLOOR ROOMS ON THE LEFT are dedicated to Oriental Cults. Of particular interest are the altar of the Vestal Claudia, which recalls a legend of the end of the third century B.C., and the altar of the Sol Sanctissimus from the first century A.D. (Room I); statues and altars dedicated to the worship of Isis and Serapis (Room II); sculptures from the shrine of Jupiter Dolichenus on the Aventine (Room III).

THE GROUND FLOOR ROOMS ON THE RIGHT contain works of the Roman period. Among these it is worth noting fragments of the calendar, the Amendola Sarcophagus showing details of the struggle between the Greeks and the Galatians from the second century B.C. and very similar to Pergamon art; the so-called Alexander Severus Sarcophagus, a Greek work from the third century B.C., with reliefs on its sides figuring the legend of Achilles and two dead figures lying on the lid.

From the courtyard opposite an enormous statue of Mars Ultor, a staircase leads up to the first floor gallery. This corridor is lined with statues and busts. The following are the most interesting: Leda and the Swan, from a fourth-century B.C. original; Drunken old woman, possibly a copy of a work by Myron the younger; Winged Psyche from a fourth-century B.C. original; Athena from Velletri, a copy of an original bronze from the fifth or fourth century B.C.; bust of Probus, from the third century B.C.; a large bowl set on a well-head with archaistic decoration from Hadrian’s Villa; Cupid bending his bow, from an original by Lysippus, the infant Hercules strangling the Hydra, restored in this form by Alessandro Algardi in the seventeenth century but probably in the original representing Hercules and the hind.

THE HALL Of THE DOVES takes its name from the famous mosaic of four doves drinking at a fountain, which came from Hadrian’s Villa and is a copy of Sosias of Pergamos. There is another mosaic of a Tragic and Comic Mask; a child’s sarcophagus with the myth of Prometheus, a Roman work; a series of Roman busts dating from the end of the Republic or the beginning of the Empire; a statuette of a girl defending a dove from a serpent, a copy of a Greek original of the third to second century B.C. The lIiac Tablet with reliefs representing the story of the destruction of Troy and the flight of Aeneas, and Greek inscription, is also here in a show case.

This is followed by the room containing the Capitoline Venus, a Roman copy of an early Greek original.

THE HALL OF THE EMPERORS is named after the 65 busts of Roman Emperors, almost all of which come from the collection of Cardinal Albani. There are two fine busts of Augustus, one as a young man, the other crowned with myrtle leaves. One should also note: Commodus as a young man; Julia, daughter of Titus; Plotina, wife of Trajan; Heliogabalus. In the centre of the room there is the seated figure of Helena, the mother of Constantine , with a body deriving from Phidian type statuary.

THE HALL OF PHILOSOPHERS contains the busts of 79 photospheres, poets and orators, some of which are of uncertain identity. In the centre of the room there is a seated male figure, a copy of a fourth century Greek original.

The statues of the Young and Old Centaurs from Hadrian’s Villa are placed in the centre of the following HALL. Amongst others of particular interest are the Athlete, a copy of the Diadumenus by Policletus, with a head which is not its own; two copies of Amazon, one of which is considered to be better than Cresila’s fourth-century B.C. original; Pothos from an original Scopas; Old Woman from a Hellenistic original.

THE HALL OF THE FAUN contains the famous laughing Faun holding a bunch of grapes to his mouth; this is a copy dating from Hadrian’s time, of an Hellenistic original; the boy with a mask of Silenus from the beginning of the Imperial period; the boy with a goose, from a second century B.C. original. Set into the hall in this room is a bronze tablet the Lex de imperio Vespasiani in which the “Senate and the Roman People” conferred imperial power on Vespasian in 69.

THE HALL OF THE GLADIATOR or the Dying Gaul is named after the statue of the Dying Gaul, also known as the Dying Gladiator, which came from the Gardens of Sallust in the sixteenth century together with the group of the Gaul killing himself and his wife, now in the National Museum of Rome. Both copies are in marble from the original bronzes which Attalus I had made for the temple of Athena at Pergamus after the victory over the Gauls. In the same room there is also the Amazon from the famous Phydian original; this figure has a head of the Cresila type and not its own and was restored quite arbitrarily so that it is carrying a bow instead of leaning on a lance; a Roman bust formerly identified as Brutus; a faun in re pose (the Faun of Praxiteles) - the best existing copy - from Hadrian’s Villa; a group of Eros and Psyche, from an Hellenistic original of the third to second Century B.C.

Tags: Attalus I, Capitoline Museum, Dying Gaul, Eros and Psyche, National Museum of Rome, Roman Emperors, Sosias of Pergamos

The Museo Nazionale Romano is housed in the Baths which Diocletian had built between the last years of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century A.C. (the dedicatory inscription dated 306 A.C. is conserved in a fragmentary state in the Museum). The building of the baths, the largest in the ancient world, included many rooms besides the traditional calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium - which were designed to hold 3,000 people at the same time. There was a natatio or frigidarium for swimmers (Iarge open air swimming pool) and various other rooms, meeting rooms, librarie s, nymphaleums, dressing rooms, concert rooms and rooms for physical exercices etc. The calidarium, which was partially conserved up to the seventeenth century, took up part of what is now Piazza dell’Esedra. There remains today the apse wall, which is now the entrance to the church of S. Maria degli Angeli. The tepidarium can be identified in the large domed round octagonal hall which now corresponds to the transept of the Basilica. The covered frigidarium may be identified with the vast hall which Michelangelo, commissioned by Pius IV in 1561, converted into the nave of the church, creating its entrance at the eastern end towards what is today the Piazza dei Cinquecento. Michelangelo incorporated the framework of the classical ruins into his design but treated them with the greatest respect. The history of the Baths has never been a happy one, beginning with the siege of Vitige, who cut off the Roman acqueducts in 538, the building has been despoiled for centuries and looted for all the material cons­idered useful up unti! the last ravages for the construction of Stazione Termini.

The idea, first discussed in 1889, for choosing the Baths as the home for the Archaelogical Museum was put into effect in 1907 with the passing of the necessary law. In 1911, the Monument was the site of the Archaelogical Exhibition held in Rome on the occasion of the 50th an­niversary of the proclamation of the kingdom of Italy.

At the present time, on account of staff shortages and reorganisation and building work in progress, certain rooms are closed to the public. Nevertheless the most important works in these parts of the museum, which are at present temporarily closed, are indicated hare.

In the group of rooms which makes up the first part of the itinerary, particular attention should be paid to the sarcophagi with representations of a Dyonisian Thiasos, dating trom the end of the third century A.C.; the legend of Phedra (Room I); standing Muses of the “colonnette” type which date trom the end of the forth century A.C. (ROOM II); a Christian Sarcophagus bearing the name of Marcus Claudianus; a fragment of a Hebrew sarcophagus, figuring the Candelabrum with seven arms, a poly­chrome mosaic trom Via Merulana dating from the third century A.C. (Room III); a mosaic from Collemancio near Assisi figuring hunting Pygmies and animals; the dedicatory inscription of the Baths of Diocletian; the colossal statue of Kore which came trom Ariccia, a Roman replica from the originai attributed either to Kresilas or to Alkamenes; the sarcophagus showing details of the cavalry battle batween the Romans and Barbarians, from the end of the second century A.D.; the other sarcophagus figuring the meeting of Dionysus with Arianne trom the end of the second century A.C.. (Room IV); the mosaic showing quadrigae taking part in a race in the circus, which came from Via Imperiae and which dates back to the fourth century A.C.

ROOM XI contains the marble fragments bearing the inscrip­tions known as the Acts of the Arval Brotherhood, followers of the cult of the Goddes Ceres. One should also note the splendid mosaic of Nereids riding on marine animals (from Casalotti) and those of Hector being dragged in the dust (from Ceccano) and of Hercules and Acheleus (from Anzio). From here we pass into ROOM IX (with its double apse) where there is a sarcophagus in the form of a basin, an arch·sarcophagus from the Via Tuscolana a bath and several architectonic elements.

ROOM X contains the reconstructed tomb of Gaius Sulpicius Platorinus and his family, discovered during the building of the Tiber embankment between Ponte Sisto and the Farnesina. Opposite there is a tomb with murai decorations on the walls and ceilings of the rooms; this was discovered at the foot of the hill of Monteverde in Rome.

The itinerary continues through the modern garden towards Piazza dei Cinquecento, which today constitutes the entrance which corresponds in part to the ancient garden of the Baths and which contains architectural marble remains, part of the collection of inscriptions belonging to the museum and miscellaneous archeo· logical materia!. A small glassed·in arcade (mosaics and fragments of reliefs) leads from the garden into an entrance hall from which one enters the new rooms.

Tags: calidarium, frigidarium, Michelangelo, National Museum of Rome, Pius IV, Roman acqueducts, tepidarium

(Open: from 9 to an hour before sunset, closed Sunday afternoons). The largest amphitheater ever built in Rome and symbol for Romanism was the work of the Flavian emperors and was therefore called Amphiteatrum Flavium. The name Colosseum first come to be used in the Middle Ages and can be traced to the nearby colossal bronze statue of Nero as the sun god which rose up from the site of the vestibule of the Domus Aurea.

The emperor Vespasian began the construction of the Colosseum in the valley between the Caelian, Palatine and Esquiline hills, on the site of the artificial lake around which Nero’s royal residence was centered and which had been drained for the purpose. Vespasian’s intentions were to restore to the Roman people what Nero had tyrannically deprived them of, as well as that of providing Rome with a large permanent amphitheatre in place of the amphitheatre of Taurus in the Campus Martius, a contemporary wooden structure erected by Nero after the fire of A.D. 64 but which was no longer large enough.

Works began in the early years of Vespasian’s reign and in A.D. 79 the building, which had gone up only to the first two exterior orders with the first three tiers of steps inside, was dedicated. The fourth and fifth tiers were completed by Titus and it was inaugurated in A.D. 80 with imposing spectacles and games which lasted a hundred days. Under Domitian the amphitheatre assumed its present aspect and size. According to the sources he arrived ad clipea, in other words he placed the bronze shields which decorated the attic, adding the maenianum summum, the third internal order made of wooden tiers. Moreover he also had the subterraneans of the arena built, after which the naumachie (naval battles for which the arena had to be flooded) could no longer be held in the Colosseum as the literary sources tell us they once were. Additional work was carried out by Nerva, Trajan and Antoninus Pius. Alexander Severus restored the building after it had been damaged by a fire caused by lightning in A.D. 217. Further restoration was carried out by Gordian III and later by Decius, after the Colosseum had once more been struck by lightning in A.D. 250. Other works of renovation were necessary after the earthquakes of A.D. 429 and 443. Odoacer had the lower tiers rebuilt, as witnessed by the inscriptions which we can read with the names of the senators dating from between 476 and 483 A.D. The last attempt at restoration was by Theodoric, after which the building was totally abandoned.

In the Middle Ages it became a fortress for the Frangipane and further earthquakes led to the material being used for new constructions. From the 15th century on then it was transformed into a quarry for blocks of travertine until it was consecrated by Pope Benedict XV in the middle of the 18th century. The building is elliptical in form and measures 188 x 156 meters at the perimeter and 86 x 54 meters inside, while it is almost 49 meters high. The external facade is completely of travertine and built in four stories. The three lower stories have 80 arches each, supported on piers and framed by attached three-quarter columns, Doric on the first floor, Ionic on the second and Corinthian on the third. They are crowned by an attic which functions as a fourth story, articulated by Corinthian pilasters set alternately between walls with a square window and an empty space which once contained the gilded shields. The beams which supported the large canopy (velaria) to protect the spectators from the sun were fitted into a row of holes between corbels. The canopies were unfurled by a crew of sailors from Misenum.

The arches of the ground floor level were numbered to indicate the entrance to the various tiers of seats in the cavea. The four entrances of honour were situated at the ends of the principal axes of the building and were unnumbered, reserved for upper class persons of rank such as magistrates, members of religious colleges, the Vestal Virgins. The entrance on the north side was preceded by a porch (a small two-columned portico) which led to the imperial tribune through a corridor decorated with stuccoes.

The external arcades led to a twin set of circular corridors from which stairs led to the aisles (vomitoria) of the cavea; the second floor had a similar double ambulatory, and so did the third, but lower than the other two, while two single corridors were set one over the other at the height of the attic.

Inside, the cavea was separated from the arena by a podium almost four meters high behind which were the posts of honour. Il was horizontally divided into three orders (maenianum) separated by walls in masonry (baltei). The first two maeniana (the second subdivided once more into upper and lower) had marble seats and were vertically articulated by the entrance aisles (vomitoria) and stairs. The results were sectors of a circle called cunei. It was therefore possible for the seats to be identified by the number of the tier, the cuneo and the seat. The third maenianum or maenianum summum had wooden tiers and was separated from the maenianum secundum below by a high wall. There was a colonnade with a gallery reserved for the women, above which a terrace served for the lower classes who had standing room only.

Access to seats in the cavea was based on social class, the higher up the seat the less important the person. The emperor’s box was at the south end of the minor axis and this was also where consuls and Vestal Virgins sat. The box at the north extremity was for the prefect of the city (praefectus Urbis) together with other magistrates. The tiers closest to the arena were reserved for senators. The inscriptions to be read on some of the extant tiers inform us that they were reserved for specific categories of citizens.

The arena was originally covered with wooden flooring which could be removed as required. In the case of hunts of ferocious animals the spectators in the cavea were protected by a metal grating surmounted by elephant tusks and with horizontally placed rotating cylinders so that it was impossible for the wild animals to climb up using their claws.

The area below the arena floor contained all the structures necessary for the presentation of the spectacles: cages for the animals, scenographic devices, storerooms for thr gladiators’ weapons, machines, etc. They were arranged in three annular walkways with openings that permitted the areas to be functionally connected with each other. A series of thirty niches in the outer wall was apparently used for elevators which took gladiators and beasts up to the level of the arena. The artificial basin created for the lake of the Domus Aurea was rationally exploited in the construction of the Colosseum, saving an enormous amount of excavation work. Once drained, the foundations were cast and travertine piers were set into a large elliptical concrete platform, forming a framework up to the third floor with radial walls in blocks of tufa and brick set between them. It was thus possible to work on the lower and upper parts at the same time, so that the building was subdivided into four sectors in which four different construction yards were engaged simultaneously. Various types of spectacles were given in the Colosseum: the munera or contests between gladiators, the venationes, or hunts of wild beasts and the previously cited naumachie.

Christians may or may not have been martyrized in the Colosseum. A final point to consider is the number of spectators the Colosseum was capable of containing: opinions vary but the figure must have been around 50,000.

Tags: Alexander Severus, amphitheater, Antoninus Pius, Caelian, Colosseum, colosseum Rome, Domus Aurea, Esquiline, Flavian emperors, Gordian III, naumachie, Nerva, Odoacer, Palatine, Pope Benedict XV, roman colosseum, Theodoric, Titus, Trajan, Vestal Virgins

(Via dei Fori Imperiali. open: weekdays and holidays 9-13. from Spring to Autumn 9-19, closed Mondays). Situated in a valley between the Palatine, the Capitoline and the Esquiline hills, the area was originally a mos: inhospitable zone, swampy and unhealthy, until surprisingly modern reclama­tion work was carried out by the king Tarquinius Priscus, who provided the area with a highly developed drainage system (Cloaca Maxima). Once this complex reclamation work was linished, the Roman Forum became a piace lor trade and barter. Numerous shops and a large square known as the marke­square were built and a zone was set apart lor public ceremonies. It was here that the magistrates were elected, the traditional religious holidays were kep: and those charged with various crimes were judged by a real court organiza­tion. After the Punic wars, thanks to the extraordinary development of the city, the urban labric of the Forum took on a new look. As early as the 2nd century B.C., various basilicas - Porcia, Sempronia, and Aemilia - were built the temples of the Castors and of Concordia were rebuilt, and the network of roads connecting the Forum to the quarters of the city continued to grow. Af­ter various transformations under the emperor Augustus, the Roman Forum became so large as to be considered the secular, religious and commercial center of the city. After a period in which secular and political interests cen­tered on other parts of the city, the Roman Forum reacquired its originai pres­tige under Maxentius and Constantine who ordered the construction of the Temple of Romulus and the great Basilica of Constantine. With the decadence of the Roman Empire, the splendid venerable structures of the Forum were se­verely damaged by the Barbarian invasions, especially the Goths (A.D. 410) and the Vandals (A.D. 455). The Roman Forum meanwhile became a place of worship for the early Christians who built the Churches of SS. Sergio e Bacco (on the Via Sacra), of S. Adriano (on the Curia), SS. Cosma e Damiano (Tempie of Peace). As time passed, the Forum was completely abandoned. What was left of the antique monuments was used by the people or demolished. During the Middle Ages the Forum became a pasture for sheep and cattle (hence its name of Campo Vaccino). For many centuries the prestige of the Roman Fo­rum was a thing of the past. Not until the early 20th century was there a sys­tematic re-evaluation of the area with excavation campaigns which lasted for various decades and which brought back to light the splendid evidence of the Rome of the kings as well as that of the republic and the empire.

Tags: Capitoline, Cloaca Maxima, Constantine, Esquiline, Goths, Hills of Rome, Maxentius, Roman Empire, Roman Forum, Tarquinius Priscus, Vandals