DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0076
24
Prim itive Fo rtifications.
[CHAP. I.
tioned by Solinusu, and therefore on the platform to the north of the
Colosseum, between that and the Forum Romanum.
To the south another road descends rapidly to the Colosseum
and the Arch of Constantine. This appears to have been afterwards
made a covered way by the buildings over it, but the incline or
clivus is probably natural or very ancient. The Arch of Titus,
therefore, stands close to the natural position for the principal gate
of the city of Romulus on the Palatine, and there are remains of
a very early gate near this spot. From thence a zigzag road would
turn at an angle up to the platform on the surface of the Palatine.
This hill has so long been built over, and the buildings renewed so
many times, that it is difficult to see the original plan. Nevertheless,
the demolition of the buildings, and the excavations, have brought
a great deal of it to light. It is easy to see that the upper part of
the hill has had the edges cut into vertical cliffs, with terraces under
them, as in other primitive fortifications. These cliffs are now visible
in several places behind the walls, in which holes are made and left
open for the purpose of shewing the natural rock, extending as high
as the wall and the surface of the hill. The natural soil here being
friable, the cliff required to be supported, and this would commonly
be done at first with wood only; but Romulus appears to have begun
a stone wall immediately. Part of this wall remains at the north end
towards the west, and round the corner on the west side, near the
church of S. Anastasia. The architectural character of this wall is
exactly the same as that of Fiesole, Volterra, Perugia, and other
Etruscan cities, where the building material is the same.
This kind of stone, called tufa, naturally splits into oblong blocks of
large size, and of these blocks the walls are built; the stone has only
been split off the rocks with wedges, not cut with the saw, and there
is no original cement, or at least no lime-mortar. Along the north end
of the hill, opposite to the Capitol, the foundations of towers of the
same period remain at regular intervals, evidently left unfinished and
built over in the time of the Republic, of the Empire, and in the
Middle Ages; but all these buildings being now destroyed, the ori-
ginal foundations have been brought to light within the last few
years*. This north end of the Palatine was the Arx or Citadel
of Romulusy, that was betrayed by Tarpeia to the Sabines on the
Capitol opposite.
u “Ancus Martius (habitavit) in
Summa Sacra Via, ubi sedes Larium
est.” (Solinus, c. i. 23.)
x They are shewn in some of my
photographs, with walls of the time
of the Republic and early Empire built
upon them and against them.
r Plutarch in Romulo says that Tar-
peia betrayed the Capitol and not the
Palatine to the Sabines, and that for
Prim itive Fo rtifications.
[CHAP. I.
tioned by Solinusu, and therefore on the platform to the north of the
Colosseum, between that and the Forum Romanum.
To the south another road descends rapidly to the Colosseum
and the Arch of Constantine. This appears to have been afterwards
made a covered way by the buildings over it, but the incline or
clivus is probably natural or very ancient. The Arch of Titus,
therefore, stands close to the natural position for the principal gate
of the city of Romulus on the Palatine, and there are remains of
a very early gate near this spot. From thence a zigzag road would
turn at an angle up to the platform on the surface of the Palatine.
This hill has so long been built over, and the buildings renewed so
many times, that it is difficult to see the original plan. Nevertheless,
the demolition of the buildings, and the excavations, have brought
a great deal of it to light. It is easy to see that the upper part of
the hill has had the edges cut into vertical cliffs, with terraces under
them, as in other primitive fortifications. These cliffs are now visible
in several places behind the walls, in which holes are made and left
open for the purpose of shewing the natural rock, extending as high
as the wall and the surface of the hill. The natural soil here being
friable, the cliff required to be supported, and this would commonly
be done at first with wood only; but Romulus appears to have begun
a stone wall immediately. Part of this wall remains at the north end
towards the west, and round the corner on the west side, near the
church of S. Anastasia. The architectural character of this wall is
exactly the same as that of Fiesole, Volterra, Perugia, and other
Etruscan cities, where the building material is the same.
This kind of stone, called tufa, naturally splits into oblong blocks of
large size, and of these blocks the walls are built; the stone has only
been split off the rocks with wedges, not cut with the saw, and there
is no original cement, or at least no lime-mortar. Along the north end
of the hill, opposite to the Capitol, the foundations of towers of the
same period remain at regular intervals, evidently left unfinished and
built over in the time of the Republic, of the Empire, and in the
Middle Ages; but all these buildings being now destroyed, the ori-
ginal foundations have been brought to light within the last few
years*. This north end of the Palatine was the Arx or Citadel
of Romulusy, that was betrayed by Tarpeia to the Sabines on the
Capitol opposite.
u “Ancus Martius (habitavit) in
Summa Sacra Via, ubi sedes Larium
est.” (Solinus, c. i. 23.)
x They are shewn in some of my
photographs, with walls of the time
of the Republic and early Empire built
upon them and against them.
r Plutarch in Romulo says that Tar-
peia betrayed the Capitol and not the
Palatine to the Sabines, and that for