A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of PraenesteMagoffin, Ralph Van Deman
History
A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste
Magoffin, Ralph Van Deman
Palestrina (Italy)
AERARIUM, C.I.L., XIV, 2975; Bull. dell'Inst., 1881, p. 207; Marucchi,
Bull. dell'Inst., 1881, p. 252; Nibby, Analisi, II, p. 504; best and
latest, Delbrueck, Hellenistische Bauten in Latium, I, p. 58.
The points worth noting are: that this aerarium is not built with
reference to the temple above, and that it faces out on the public
square. These points have been discussed more at length above, and will
receive still more attention below under the caption "FORUM."
AMPHITHEATRUM, C.I.L., XIV, 3010, 3014; Juvenal, III, 173; Ovid, A.A.,
I, 103 ff.
The remains found out along the Valmontone road[130] coincide nearly
enough with the provenience of the inscription to settle an amphitheatre
here of late imperial date. The tradition of the death of the martyr S.
Agapito in an amphitheatre, and the discovery of a Christian church on
the Valmontone road, have helped to make pretty sure the identification
of these ruins.[131]
We know also from an inscription that there was a gladiatorial school at
Praeneste.[132]
BALNEAE, C.I.L., XIV, 3013, 3014 add.
The so-called nymphaeum, the brick building below the Via degli Arconi,
mentioned page 41, seems to have been a bath as well as a fountain,
because of the architectural fragments found there[133] when it was
turned into a mill by the Bonanni brothers. The reservoir mentioned
above on page 41 must have belonged also to a bath, and so do the ruins
which are out beyond the villa under which the modern cemetery now is.
From their orientation they seem to belong to the villa. There were also
baths on the hill toward Gallicano, as the ruins show.[134]
BYBLIOTHECAE, C.I.L., XIV, 2916.
These seem to have been two small libraries of public and private law
books.[135] They were in the Forum, as the provenience of the
inscription shows.
CIRCUS, Cecconi, Storia di Palestrina, p. 75, n. 32.
Cecconi thought there was a circus at the bottom of the depression
between Colle S. Martino and the hill of Praeneste. The depression does
have a suspiciously rounded appearance below the Franciscan grounds, but
a careful examination made by me shows no trace of cutting in the rock
to make a half circle for seats, no traces of any use of the slope for
seats, and no ruins of any kind.
CULINA, C.I.L., XIV, 3002.
This was a building of some consequence. Two quaestors of the city
bought a space of ground 148-1/2 by 16 feet along the wall, and
superintended the building of a culina there. The ground was made
public, and the whole transaction was done by decree of the senate, that
is, it was done before the time of Sulla.
CURIA, C.I.L., XIV, 2924.
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