DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0146
ιο6
CASTRA PRAETORIA
centuries as a sort of special police (Not. Reg. II; Amm. Marc. xvi. 12. 66).
Certain inscriptions relating to these barracks (CIL vi. 230, 231 (=30721),
354) had long ago been found near S. Maria in Navicella, and they
were located by Hulsen (DAP 2. ix. (1907) 411) and by Lanciani (LR 339 ;
LF 36) further to the north ; but the ruins of a part of the castra and
several inscriptions connected with them were found in 1905 under the
Convent of the Little Company of Mary, just south-east of S. Stefano
Rotondo (CR 1905, 328-329 ; BC 1904, 351 ; 1905, 108 ; cf. NS. 1907, 183 ;
1909, 37). For a full account, see Baillie Reynolds in JRS 1923, 153-187.
It now becomes improbable that the inscription (CIL vi. 29843)
Antoniniana (q.v.) can be restored as Castra Antoniniana, and
referred to this building (cf. HJ 234-235).
Within the castra was a shrine (templum) of Juppiter Redux erected
in honour of Severus and Mammaea by a centurio frumentarius (CIL
vi. 428).
Castra Praetoria : * the barracks of the praetorian guard, built by Tiberius
at the instigation of Sejanus in 21-23 a.d. when these troops were
quartered permanently within the city (Suet. Tib. 37 ; Tac. Ann. iv. 2 ;
Cass. Dio lvii. 9. 6 ; Schol. Iuv. x. 95). They were in the extreme north-
eastern part of Rome, just beyond the inhabited district (Plin. NH iii. 67 ;
Suet. Nero 48 ; Not. Reg. VI), about 500 metres east of the agger, on a
site that was one of the highest in Rome (59-60 metres above sea-level),
and commanded both the city and the roads leading to the east and
north-east. The camp was constructed on the usual Roman model,
forming a rectangle 440 metres long and 380 wide, with rounded corners.
The longer axis, the cardo maximus, ran nearly north and south, and
at its ends, in the middle of the shorter sides, were the porta praetoria
and the porta decumana. It is not certain, however, whether the porta
praetoria was on the north side or the south (HJ 387-388 north, Antonielli,
BC 1913, 31-47 south). The cardo maximus did not divide the castra
equally, and the gates at its ends, porta principalis dextra on the west and
porta principalis sinistra on the east, were 190 metres from the north side
and 250 from the south.1
The original walls of Tiberius (AJA 1912, 398) are of brick-faced
concrete, 4.73 metres high where they are still preserved (see below), and
had battlements and turreted gates (Ill. 13) (Tac. Hist. iii. 84 ; Herod, vii.
II. 12). On the inside of the wall were rows of vaulted chambers occupied
by soldiers, some of which, on the north and east sides, are still visible.
They were 3 metres high, of opus reticulatum lined with stucco, and
above them ran a paved walk for the guards (for the discovery of these
1 This has been the view hitherto ; but Richmond points out that the arrangement of
the barracks shows that the via principalis (which on the analogy of all other camps
must have run through in a straight line) can only have run from north to south, the east
to west line being interrupted. He therefore places the porta praetoria on the west, the
decumana on the east, and the porta principalis dextra and sinistra on the north and south
respectively (PBS x. 13).
CASTRA PRAETORIA
centuries as a sort of special police (Not. Reg. II; Amm. Marc. xvi. 12. 66).
Certain inscriptions relating to these barracks (CIL vi. 230, 231 (=30721),
354) had long ago been found near S. Maria in Navicella, and they
were located by Hulsen (DAP 2. ix. (1907) 411) and by Lanciani (LR 339 ;
LF 36) further to the north ; but the ruins of a part of the castra and
several inscriptions connected with them were found in 1905 under the
Convent of the Little Company of Mary, just south-east of S. Stefano
Rotondo (CR 1905, 328-329 ; BC 1904, 351 ; 1905, 108 ; cf. NS. 1907, 183 ;
1909, 37). For a full account, see Baillie Reynolds in JRS 1923, 153-187.
It now becomes improbable that the inscription (CIL vi. 29843)
Antoniniana (q.v.) can be restored as Castra Antoniniana, and
referred to this building (cf. HJ 234-235).
Within the castra was a shrine (templum) of Juppiter Redux erected
in honour of Severus and Mammaea by a centurio frumentarius (CIL
vi. 428).
Castra Praetoria : * the barracks of the praetorian guard, built by Tiberius
at the instigation of Sejanus in 21-23 a.d. when these troops were
quartered permanently within the city (Suet. Tib. 37 ; Tac. Ann. iv. 2 ;
Cass. Dio lvii. 9. 6 ; Schol. Iuv. x. 95). They were in the extreme north-
eastern part of Rome, just beyond the inhabited district (Plin. NH iii. 67 ;
Suet. Nero 48 ; Not. Reg. VI), about 500 metres east of the agger, on a
site that was one of the highest in Rome (59-60 metres above sea-level),
and commanded both the city and the roads leading to the east and
north-east. The camp was constructed on the usual Roman model,
forming a rectangle 440 metres long and 380 wide, with rounded corners.
The longer axis, the cardo maximus, ran nearly north and south, and
at its ends, in the middle of the shorter sides, were the porta praetoria
and the porta decumana. It is not certain, however, whether the porta
praetoria was on the north side or the south (HJ 387-388 north, Antonielli,
BC 1913, 31-47 south). The cardo maximus did not divide the castra
equally, and the gates at its ends, porta principalis dextra on the west and
porta principalis sinistra on the east, were 190 metres from the north side
and 250 from the south.1
The original walls of Tiberius (AJA 1912, 398) are of brick-faced
concrete, 4.73 metres high where they are still preserved (see below), and
had battlements and turreted gates (Ill. 13) (Tac. Hist. iii. 84 ; Herod, vii.
II. 12). On the inside of the wall were rows of vaulted chambers occupied
by soldiers, some of which, on the north and east sides, are still visible.
They were 3 metres high, of opus reticulatum lined with stucco, and
above them ran a paved walk for the guards (for the discovery of these
1 This has been the view hitherto ; but Richmond points out that the arrangement of
the barracks shows that the via principalis (which on the analogy of all other camps
must have run through in a straight line) can only have run from north to south, the east
to west line being interrupted. He therefore places the porta praetoria on the west, the
decumana on the east, and the porta principalis dextra and sinistra on the north and south
respectively (PBS x. 13).