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
There can be but little doubt that this was the temple of Minerva begun
together with the Forum by Domitian, and finished by Nerva. It is true
that there is no actual mention in any of the ancient writers of a temple
of Minerva here, but the assertion of Dion Cassius that Domitian had a
particular reverence for Minerva and Janus, and the character of the
designs and statues of Minerva found upon the ruined part of the enclosure
already described, leave little doubt on the subject. The name of
Palladium given to the Forum by Martial also agrees with this supposition.
The fate of the Temple of Minerva is better known than that of most of the
ancient temples in Rome.
In the time of Pope Pius V. (1566-1572) the building of a new quarter of
the city was begun in this district. The streets Via Alessandrina and Via
Bonella were laid out, and as the new quarter grew, the ruins of the old
temple became an impediment to their progress, which Paul V. in the
beginning of the seventeenth century ordered to be removed, and to be
applied to the construction of the Chapel of S. Paul in the church of S.
Maria Maggiore and that of the Fontana Paolo upon the Janiculum. The great
gateway which stood at the end of the Via della Croce Bianca was suffered
to remain for a century longer, but is now quite gone.
[Sidenote: Tomb of Bibulus.]
We now return to the Piazza Trajana. Between it and the Piazza del
Campidoglio, in a street called the Via di Marforio, are two of the more
ancient ruins in Rome consisting of tombs now built into the walls of
houses. These tombs are monuments of imperial Rome, and were probably
outside the ancient Servian Wall not far from the Porta Ratumena.
The more prominent of the two, the Tomb of Bibulus, stands close by the
junction of the modern streets of Macel de’ Corvi and Marforio. The front
of it only can be seen, as the rest is built into the wall of a house. The
inscription is as follows,
C . POPLICIO . L . F . BIBULO AED . PL . HONORIS.
VIRTUTISQUE . CAUSSA . SENATUS.
CONSULTO . POPULI . QUE . JUSSU . LOCUS.
MONUMENTO . QUO . IPSE . POSTEREIQUE.
EIUS . INFERRENTUR . PUBLICE . DATUS . EST.
The inscription was also placed on the side of the tomb, where the
beginning of it may still be seen. It must not be inferred that the
privilege of being buried within the walls was granted to Bibulus contrary
to the regulations of the twelve tables, which forbade any corpse to be
buried or burnt within the city walls. Had this been the case the
exemption would have been expressly mentioned in the inscription, and
besides this the course of the Servian Wall, which crossed the depression
between the Quirinal and Capitoline, would naturally run so as to exclude
the tomb. The inscription only records the gift of the burial place to
Bibulus by the Senate, and is intended to prevent the burial of any other
person there, except the family of Bibulus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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