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
The Gateway of Honorius was removed from the Porta Maggiore by Gregory
XVI. as the inscription on the present gate records. The removal of the
old gateway disclosed the Tomb of Eurysaces, a bread contractor, which is
a very fantastic monument, constructed of stone mortars used for kneading
dough, and ornamented with some curious bas-reliefs of a good period of
art, representing the operations of baking. The inscriptions upon it are
as follows: “EST HOC MONIMENTUM MARCEI VERGILEI EURYSACIS PISTORIS AC
REDEMPTORIS APPARETORUM. FUIT ATISTIA UXOR MIHEI FEMINA OPTIMA VEIXIST
QUOJUS CORPORIS RELIQUIÆ QUOD SUPERANT SUNT IN HOC PANARIO.” The latter of
these inscriptions, however, probably belongs to some other tomb, the
remains of several having been found here, which lead to the supposition
that this was a spot especially devoted to the burial of bakers.
The present gateway is formed by two arches of the Claudian Aqueduct,
which runs along the course of the walls from this point to the corner
near the Amphitheatrum Castrense. The arches are built of rusticated
travertino blocks, and each of the piers is pierced with a smaller arch,
decorated with Corinthian half-columns of rustic work and pediments in the
usual Græco-Roman style of a triumphal arch. This gateway is one of the
most characteristic creations of Roman architecture. It conveys more than
any other building I know, except, perhaps, the rusticated archways of the
amphitheatre at Verona, the impression of rough force and solidity. Over
the arches are three atticas, upon which the following inscriptions are
cut, recording the erection and renewal of the Claudian aqueduct by
Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus:
TI. CLAUDIUS DRUSI F. CAISAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS PONTIF. MAXIM. TRIBUNICIA
POTESTATE XII. COS V. IMPERATOR XXVII. PATER PATRIÆ AQUAS CLAUDIAM EX
FONTIBUS QUI VOCABANTUR CÆRULEUS ET CURTIUS A MILLIARIO XXXXV. ITEM
AMERIEM NOVAM A MILLIARIO LXVII. SUA INPENSA IN URBEM PERDUCENDAS CURAVIT.
IMP. CÆSAR VESPASIANUS AUGUST. PONTIF. MAX. TRIB. POT. II. IMP. VI. COS.
III. DESIG. III. P. P. AQUAS CURTIAM ET CÆRULEAM PERDUCTAS A DIVO CLAUDIO
ET POSTEA INTERMISSAS DILAPSASQUE PER ANNOS NOVEM SUA IMPENSA URBI
RESTITUIT.
IMP. T. CÆSAR DIVI F. VESPASIANUS AUGUSTUS PONT. MAX. TRIBUNIC. POTEST.
X. IMP. XVII. P. P. CENS. COS. VIII. AQUAS CURTIAM ET CÆRULEAM PERDUCTAS A
DIVO CLAUDIO ET POSTEA A DIVO VESPASIANO PATRE SUO URBI RESTITUTAS CUM A
CAPITE AQUARUM A SOLO VETUSTATE DILAPSÆ ESSENT NOVA FORMA REDUCENDAS SUA
IMPENSA CURAVIT.
[Illustration: THE FORA OF THE CAESARS]
CHAPTER IV.
THE IMPERIAL FORA AND THE CAPITOLIUM.
[Sidenote: Trajan’s Forum.]
[Sidenote: Ruin in the Salita del Grillo.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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