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
Parts of the pavement, which was of porphyry, have also been found, and in
the neighbourhood of the ruin a number of sculptures have been at various
times discovered, among which are statues of Pomona, Æsculapius, Adonis,
Venus, Hercules, Antinous, some Luperci, and a Faun. The old
topographers, Blondus Flavius and Lucius Faunus, give the name of Terme di
Galuccio or Galuzze to the ruin, and this name has been ingeniously
explained as referring to the Thermæ or Basilica of Caius and Lucius. But
there is no good foundation for this conjecture, or for the identification
of the building with the Temple of Minerva Medica, mentioned in the
Notitia. The latter name was derived from the supposed discovery here of
the Pallas Giustiniani, now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican. But
another and more ancient account asserts that the statue of Pallas was
found near S. Maria sopra Minerva, and therefore the name of Minerva
Medica cannot with any certainty be applied here.
Canina has proposed another explanation of the name Galuzze. He thinks
that the ruins belonged to the Palatium Licinianum, which is mentioned by
Anastasius, in his ‘Life of Simplicius,’ as near the Church of S. Bibiana.
This palace, he thinks, is identical with the Pleasure Gardens of
Gallienus, who bore the name of Licinius, in which, according to
Trebellius Pollio, he used to bathe and banquet with his courtiers. The
name Galuzze is, therefore, according to Canina, derived from Gallieni
Liciniaria, and the building may be supposed to have formed a part of the
baths in Gallienus’s pleasure grounds, resembling as it does in its
construction the great rotunda of the Baths of Caracalla. The proximity of
the Arch of Gallienus adds probability to this conjecture. The basin now
standing in the ruin is not ancient, and therefore cannot be held to
support this conjecture, but the brickwork and style of architecture are
said by competent judges to be such as might have been erected at the time
of the later Empire. The building called Minerva Medica by the Notitia may
have been near this spot, as some inscriptions here discovered show, but
it most probably consisted only of a chapel of no great extent standing
near the Via Prænestina.
The extensive alterations which have been carried on at Rome during the
last few years in the district at the back of the Viminal and Esquiline
Hills, where a new quarter of the city is being laid out, have disclosed a
number of fragments of sculptures and inscriptions, a detailed account of
which has been given from time to time in the _Bullettino della
Commissione Archeologica Municipale_, and in the letters of Mr. Hemans to
the _Academy_. The most interesting relics bearing upon topographical
questions are the inscription relating to the Macellum Liviæ and Forum
Esquilinum found near the Arch of Gallienus, and the supposed foundations
of the Villa of Mæcenas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account