Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the CampagnaBurn, Robert
History
Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the Campagna
Burn, Robert
Rome (Italy) -- Antiquities; Rome (Italy) -- Description and travel
3. With the bas-reliefs from the Arch of M. Aurelius must be compared that
on the pedestal of the column of Antoninus Pius now placed in the Giardino
della Pigna at the Vatican. On one side of this is an inscription
recording its dedication to Antoninus Pius, and on the other sides are
reliefs, the principal of which represents the apotheosis of Antoninus and
Faustina, while the others represent groups of cavalry and infantry.[122]
One fragment of the column now placed upon the pedestal has a Greek
inscription upon it showing that the stone of which the column was formed
was originally cut in the ninth year of Trajan, and after lying for a long
time in the imperial stoneyard was subsequently used for this column. In
the same place, the Giardino della Pigna, is to be seen the gigantic
bronze fir-cone which may have formed the summit of Hadrian’s Mausoleum,
now the Castle of S. Angelo, and also the bronze peacocks which ornamented
the same building.[123] The colossal head of Hadrian from his mausoleum is
now in the Museo Pio Clementino.
4. The inscription cut upon the pedestal of the urn of Agrippina, the
mother of Caligula, may still be seen in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei
Conservatori on the Capitol, and also the cippi recording the burials of
some of the imperial family. The pedestal was hollowed out and used as a
measure for corn in the Middle Ages, and hence it was called Rugitella di
grano.
Other colossal fragments are also kept in this courtyard, and on the
staircase are the fragments of the inscription on the Duilian column found
near the arch of Septimius Severus, and a bas-relief of Curtius leaping
into the gulf, found in the Forum Romanum near the Church of S. Maria
Liberatrice. The bas-reliefs mentioned above, No. 2, are also there.
[Illustration: Pedestal of Antonine Column.]
5. The fragments of the ancient register of Consuls from A.U.C. 272 to the
end of Augustus’ reign, which were found in the Forum Romanum, near the
Temple of Castor, are arranged on the wall of the fourth room in the Halls
of the Conservators on the Capitol. These are printed and discussed in the
Berlin ‘Corpus Inscriptionum,’ Vol. I.
[Illustration: Cone from the top of Hadrian’s Mausoleum.]
6. The famous bronze figure of the wolf and twins is placed in the gallery
of bronzes on the Capitol. It was found, according to Flaminius Vacca, who
wrote in 1594, near the Arch of Janus Quadrifrons. Urlichs, who has
discussed the probable history of this figure in the Rheinisches Museum,
thinks that it is the figure dedicated by the Ogulnii, Ædiles in B.C. 297,
and mentioned in the tenth book of Livy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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