DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0234
140 THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME.
travels, others (and among them M. Daumet) are of opinion that
the names only of these monuments were given to buildings, which
were carried out in the Roman style. In some cases, as in the Stad-
ium and Palaestra adjoining, in the Greek Theatre, and in the
Poecile, these may have been intended as reproductions of similar
constructions in Greece ; but as the Roman vault figures in most
of them, it is evident that the general scheme only was Greek, the
construction Roman. In the Imperial Palace and the great terraces
(portions of which were raised on immense substructures on the
side of the Vale of Tempe) the Roman and not the Greek treatment
of such work is very apparent, and even in Canopus, built in recol-
lection of the famous resort of the Egyptians near Alexandria,
the whole of the building is essentially Roman, and its only connec-
tion with Egypt was the name given to it and the treasures brought
from that country with which it was enriched.
The plan shows the general configuration of the site on which the
principal buildings were erected. The highest point of the ridge
is occupied by the Golden Peristyle (Piazza d'Oro), so called on
account of the richness of its marble decoration. Thence the ground
falls gradually about 12 feet to the terrace of the Libraries (Cortile
delle Biblioteche).1 Beyond that, towards the north, the ground
sinks rapidly, rising again farther on, so that the Theatre (Teatro
Greco) is partly excavated in the sides of a hill, and an elevated
plateau gives a prominent position to the so-called Palaestra. On
the west side of the ridge the Poecile is only 6 or 8 feet below the
Library terrace, but the ground sinks again towards the south to the
Canopus, where an artificial lake was excavated in the tufa rock.
There are three different orientations in the main group of
buildings, which should be borne in mind in the study of the remains;
and that of the smaller palace is different again; but the various
levels of the site, and the prospect and aspect thought requisite for
some of them, may have accounted for this. As regards the
theatres, the Romans often availed themselves of a hilly slope in which
the cavea could be excavated,2 and the sites selected here at Tivoli
accounted for their position, as also for that of the gymnasium.
The two so-called libraries faced north; the walls remaining of these
buildings still rise to a considerable height, and in the western
1 The name is in reality quite arbitrary.
2 The theatres of Balbus, Pompey and Marcellus in the Campus Martius
at Rome, are exceptions.
travels, others (and among them M. Daumet) are of opinion that
the names only of these monuments were given to buildings, which
were carried out in the Roman style. In some cases, as in the Stad-
ium and Palaestra adjoining, in the Greek Theatre, and in the
Poecile, these may have been intended as reproductions of similar
constructions in Greece ; but as the Roman vault figures in most
of them, it is evident that the general scheme only was Greek, the
construction Roman. In the Imperial Palace and the great terraces
(portions of which were raised on immense substructures on the
side of the Vale of Tempe) the Roman and not the Greek treatment
of such work is very apparent, and even in Canopus, built in recol-
lection of the famous resort of the Egyptians near Alexandria,
the whole of the building is essentially Roman, and its only connec-
tion with Egypt was the name given to it and the treasures brought
from that country with which it was enriched.
The plan shows the general configuration of the site on which the
principal buildings were erected. The highest point of the ridge
is occupied by the Golden Peristyle (Piazza d'Oro), so called on
account of the richness of its marble decoration. Thence the ground
falls gradually about 12 feet to the terrace of the Libraries (Cortile
delle Biblioteche).1 Beyond that, towards the north, the ground
sinks rapidly, rising again farther on, so that the Theatre (Teatro
Greco) is partly excavated in the sides of a hill, and an elevated
plateau gives a prominent position to the so-called Palaestra. On
the west side of the ridge the Poecile is only 6 or 8 feet below the
Library terrace, but the ground sinks again towards the south to the
Canopus, where an artificial lake was excavated in the tufa rock.
There are three different orientations in the main group of
buildings, which should be borne in mind in the study of the remains;
and that of the smaller palace is different again; but the various
levels of the site, and the prospect and aspect thought requisite for
some of them, may have accounted for this. As regards the
theatres, the Romans often availed themselves of a hilly slope in which
the cavea could be excavated,2 and the sites selected here at Tivoli
accounted for their position, as also for that of the gymnasium.
The two so-called libraries faced north; the walls remaining of these
buildings still rise to a considerable height, and in the western
1 The name is in reality quite arbitrary.
2 The theatres of Balbus, Pompey and Marcellus in the Campus Martius
at Rome, are exceptions.