CHAP. IV. Probable site of the Maenian column. suprema determined by the observation in question on a summer afternoon was probably not intended to allow less than six hours after midday. If, however, the day was ended throughout the year when the sun appeared vertically above a given point, the afternoons would be very unequal, and shorter by more than an hour at midsummer than at the equinoxes. This may have been roughly remedied by observing when the sun reached an oblique line, such as might be given by the roof of a building or by a wall seen in perspective, and extended, if necessary, by the eye or with the assistance of a rod. In this way, supposing the column to have stood to the east of the south corner of the Prison, a tolerably uniform observation may have been made about six o'clock from April to September." 499 We may now endeavour to see how far our information enables us to fix the absolute locality of the Curia and other monuments, the relative position of which in respect of each other we have so far been able to describe.500 499 The topographical problems presented by these observations of the course of the sun have been discussed by Canina, Foro Romano, pp. 358, 362; Becker, Handbuch, i. 284, 322. 500 The plan on the opposite page is suggested as an arrangement of the Curia and objects near it, consistent with the descriptions of ancient writers and the existing remains. The best proof to the author's mind of its probability is, that he has been unable to arrange PLAN OF THE NORTH CORNER OF THE FORUM, B.C. 150. 501 СНАР. Curia on east side of the Forum. We may first observe, that the vicinity of the Argiletum and the Forum of Caesar leads us at once to the north-eastern side of the Forum the northRomanum. The Argiletum led to the Suburra, and, although the precise locality and extent of the Julian Forum are not known, it is not doubted that it formed part of the group of imperial Fora on this side of the Roman Forum. Concord. It is remarkable that, of all the other objects Temple of which have been mentioned in connection with the Curia, there is only one which can be confidently identified with any existing remains. The Comitium, the Rostra, the Graecostasis, the Sena the objects differently consistently with the data. The Senaculum IV. CHAP culum, and the Janus, as well as the Curia itself and the Forum of Caesar, have all disappeared without leaving any certain traces behind them. The one monument which still exists in ruin is the Temple of Concord. The remains of this temple under the base of the Capitoline Hill have been already described. It has also been shown that the latest temple occupied the site on which the temple built by Opimius and the Basilica Opimia had previously stood. The temple of Opimius again had replaced that of Camillus, and probably superseded the small bronze temple of Flavius, the associations connected with which were not agreeable to the dominant party.' Gallery and en the Tabu larium. 501 It should be observed that when the gallery of trances of the Tabularium was erected, probably by Catulus, B.C. 78, during the existence of the basilica and temple of Opimius, there were no buildings abutting on the Tabularium of the height of the more recent temples of Concord and Vespasian, by which this gallery was afterwards in a great measure closed or obscured. Beside the doorway of the Tabularium already mentioned, which was closed by the Temple of Vespasian,' there are traces of another entrance into this building from the Forum behind the podium of the Temple of Concord. The passage leading to this door appears to have been originally carried under the base of Doorway of the Tabularium behind Concord. 501 See before, pp. 11-16, and pp. 165-169. IV. some earlier structure, but to have been closed CHAP. upon the rebuilding of the temple by Tiberius.503 costasis. Arch of placed in Severus the Co Proceeding downwards from the site of the The GraeTemple of Concord, the first monuments which our authorities have taught us to seek are the Comitium and the Graecostasis raised upon it.* Now the principal object which at present occupies the area below this site is the Arch of Severus. I have little hesitation in concluding that this mitium. structure, which belongs to a period when the associations connected with the ancient Roman constitution had lost their general influence, and were disregarded by the reigning prince," was placed in the midst of the Comitium, the original character of which was thereby destroyed. The Site of the ancient Graecostasis had probably occupied a part stasis. of the site so invaded; but whether it had survived on its old site until the erection of the arch we have no direct evidence to show. Graeco costadium. A monument called Graecostadium was re- The Graestored after fire by Antoninus Pius; a Graeco stadium was also rebuilt by Diocletian, and is named in the Curiosum. A fragment of the Capi- Capitoline 503 The passage "has old walls faced with opus reticulatum of the time of the Republic. It is stopped abruptly at the further end by a wall of the time of Augustus." Parker, Forum Romanum, Description of Plate III. Sub dextra huius (Curiae) a Comitio locus substructus . . IV. Plan. Older Graecostasis in the Plan. CHAP. toline Plan shows a rectangular structure of considerable size, having the appearance of a terrace, with steps on one side, and columns or pedestals upon it, and bears the imperfect inscription, Age of the RECOST. This plan appears to have been made in the reign of Severus, after the association of Caracalla in the empire, A.D. 198, and before that of Geta, A.D. 211.506 The arch was erected A.D. 203. The plan may therefore be either earlier or later than the arch. But if, as we can scarcely doubt, the building shown on this fragment is the Graecostadium, it is probable that the plan is earlier, and that the terrace here represented, which has no counterpart in the existing ruins, was destroyed upon the erection of the arch. The notices of the Graecostadium of a later time point to the neighbourhood of the Vicus Jugarius and the Basilica Julia, between which objects it is mentioned in the Curiosum. In this direcdium on a tion no other place can be found for such a monument than that now occupied by the terrace with the curved face, which is described in the first Chapter, and which has been commonly known as the Rostra. The form of this ruin does not correspond with that figured on the Capitoline Plan, and was probably adopted on the Later Graecosta new site. 7 506 See plan, p. 26. The only evidence of the date of the plan is an inscription on some buildings in the Palatine, SEVERI ET . . TONINI AV..NN. This is read in full, Severi et Antonini Augustorum Nos trorum. 7 See p. 19. |