DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0365
House of Augustus.
59
This passage makes it clear that the temple of Augustus stood in
that lower part of the Palatine, called also the Germalus, on which
was the zigzag road from the gate (as mentioned) to the Velabrum,
and to the Forum and the Capitol, passing round the lake of Curtius.
The descent from the gate on the terrace, on which it opened, to
the Forum, was too steep for a direct road, which could only have
been a flight of steps. The house in which Augustus was born, and
which was made into his temple, must therefore have been near to
the present round church of S. Theodore?, which is supposed
to have been built upon the foundation of a round temple. Just
beyond that church the road is divided into two branches, one of
which goes down to the street between the Palatine and the Circus
Maximus, the other to the Janus. The ground in the valley below
was in the time of Romulus a swamp; the lake of Curtius was
between the Palatine and the Forum Romanum, and this lake
or swamp continued open as late as the first century, when the
palanquin in which Galba was carried was overturned at that point2.
A stream that came down from the eastern slope of the Palatine
met another stream from the western sidea of the Quirinal, and
ran into and through this lake; and through this swamp it still
runs, though now underground, in the Cloaca Maxima.
The palace of Tiberius was on the west side of the Palatine
towards the Circus Maximus. It was not part of the grand palace,
or series of palaces, of which we have remains all along the north
end of the hill, beginning at the north-east corner, although it is
usually so described. No division between them can be traced,
they are part of one grand scheme for the embellishment of this
part of Rome, which was carried out under successive emperors
from about a.d. 20 to about a.d. 90, with some changes of the plan
and additions to it, but without much rebuilding. These are on
et Pollucis in vestibulum transfigurata
. . . interdiu vero cum Capitolino, sive
secreto fabulantur. . . et in contubernium
ultra invitatus super templum Divi Au-
gusti ponte transmisso, Palatium Capi-
toliumque conjunxit. Mox, quo pro-
pior esset, in area Capitolina novse do-
mus fundamenta jecit.” (Suetonius in
Caligula, c. 22.)
y It will be observed that Dion Cas-
sius says, that on the site of the house
in which he died was made a temple
in his honour. Suetonius, on the other
hand, says it was the house in which he
was born. As Suetonius lived in the
first century of the Christian era, and
Dion Cassius in the third, Suetonius is
the better authority of the two, and this
site agrees better with the history of
this temple in other respects.
z Plutarch in Galba, Suetonius in
Galba, 20.
a A spring still rises in a large ancient
well under a wine - shop, just behind
the church of S. Hadrian ; it rises with
considerable force, and the water from
it has always run through the valley
between the Palatine and the Capitol
to the Tiber.
59
This passage makes it clear that the temple of Augustus stood in
that lower part of the Palatine, called also the Germalus, on which
was the zigzag road from the gate (as mentioned) to the Velabrum,
and to the Forum and the Capitol, passing round the lake of Curtius.
The descent from the gate on the terrace, on which it opened, to
the Forum, was too steep for a direct road, which could only have
been a flight of steps. The house in which Augustus was born, and
which was made into his temple, must therefore have been near to
the present round church of S. Theodore?, which is supposed
to have been built upon the foundation of a round temple. Just
beyond that church the road is divided into two branches, one of
which goes down to the street between the Palatine and the Circus
Maximus, the other to the Janus. The ground in the valley below
was in the time of Romulus a swamp; the lake of Curtius was
between the Palatine and the Forum Romanum, and this lake
or swamp continued open as late as the first century, when the
palanquin in which Galba was carried was overturned at that point2.
A stream that came down from the eastern slope of the Palatine
met another stream from the western sidea of the Quirinal, and
ran into and through this lake; and through this swamp it still
runs, though now underground, in the Cloaca Maxima.
The palace of Tiberius was on the west side of the Palatine
towards the Circus Maximus. It was not part of the grand palace,
or series of palaces, of which we have remains all along the north
end of the hill, beginning at the north-east corner, although it is
usually so described. No division between them can be traced,
they are part of one grand scheme for the embellishment of this
part of Rome, which was carried out under successive emperors
from about a.d. 20 to about a.d. 90, with some changes of the plan
and additions to it, but without much rebuilding. These are on
et Pollucis in vestibulum transfigurata
. . . interdiu vero cum Capitolino, sive
secreto fabulantur. . . et in contubernium
ultra invitatus super templum Divi Au-
gusti ponte transmisso, Palatium Capi-
toliumque conjunxit. Mox, quo pro-
pior esset, in area Capitolina novse do-
mus fundamenta jecit.” (Suetonius in
Caligula, c. 22.)
y It will be observed that Dion Cas-
sius says, that on the site of the house
in which he died was made a temple
in his honour. Suetonius, on the other
hand, says it was the house in which he
was born. As Suetonius lived in the
first century of the Christian era, and
Dion Cassius in the third, Suetonius is
the better authority of the two, and this
site agrees better with the history of
this temple in other respects.
z Plutarch in Galba, Suetonius in
Galba, 20.
a A spring still rises in a large ancient
well under a wine - shop, just behind
the church of S. Hadrian ; it rises with
considerable force, and the water from
it has always run through the valley
between the Palatine and the Capitol
to the Tiber.