DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0208
164 DOMUS : AUGUSTIANA
Domus (names of owners given in the nominative)—continued :
and Athalaric are vouched for by brick-stamps (CIL xv. 1665 a, 1, 1672),
and, perhaps in this period, considerable changes were made. Another
porticus was built across the hippodromus from the north end of
the exedra, and a wall parallel to this porticus, from the south end of
the exedra, thus dividing the whole area into three parts. Within the
southern division an elliptical enclosure was erected, the walls of
which were tangent to the cross-wall and the colonnade. The masonry
of this enclosure is of the latest period, and the walls, although the
remains are a metre high, have no solid foundations, but rest on the
debris of the area. This elliptical wall was strengthened at certain
points by spur walls extending to the colonnade. The only entrance
to the enclosure was at the south end, where two pedestals from the
house of the Vestals were built into the doorway. Openings, somewhat
over a metre in width, were made in the wall itself at regular intervals,
and within one of these openings is a basin or trough with two compart-
ments. It is probable that this enclosure was a vivarium, built to
contain wild animals, a sort of private menagerie of the emperors.
The site of the church of S. Cesario in Palatio, between the middle
of the twelfth and the beginning of the fifteenth century, has recently
been fixed by Hiilsen about the middle of the ‘ stadium,’ while from
the seventh to the middle of the ninth century the name belonged to
an oratory in the Lateran palace. This does not mean that the church
on the Palatine was not of older origin ; but the frescoes of the Byzan-
tine period in one of the chambers under the Villa Mills described by
Bartoli (BCr 1907, 200-204) must then be attributed to the monastery
connected with the church (Hiilsen in Misc. Ehrle ii. (Studi e Testi
vol. 36) 377-403 1 HCh 232-233 ; RAP iii. 45-48).
Excavations have been made and recorded at various times since
1552 (LS ii. 44, 45, 83 ; iii. 112 ; Mitt. 1894, 16 ; 1895, 276-283 ; Rosa,
Relazione, 1873, 78 ff. ; Gori, Arch. Stor. ii. 374 ff. ; NS 1877, 79-80,
109-110, 201-204 ; 1878, 66, 93, 346 ; 1893, 31-32, 70, 162-3, 358-360,
419), and permit a fairly accurate description of the building to be given
(GA 1888, 216-224; Mel. 1889, 184-229; Jahrb. 1895, 129-136; Mon.
L. v. 16-83 ; Sturm, Das kaiserl. Stadium, Wurzburger Programm,
1888; EIJ 94-97; Pascal in D’Esp. Mon. ii. 119-122).
(if) To the south-east of the stadium is a fourth division of the
palace ; the substructions, for a certain distance, belong to the period
of Domitian (for a painting in a lararium in them and for still earlier
remains of the time of Nero, see Mel. 1889, 228; PBS vii. 120-123),
while the superstructure {thermae} was in the main the work of Septimius
Severus, who also erected at a slightly later period the huge arched
substructions (Ill. 17, 19) which still tower over the valley of the circus
Maximus, and which must have once extended a considerable distance
further, right to the edge of the circus itself. Their constructive
Domus (names of owners given in the nominative)—continued :
and Athalaric are vouched for by brick-stamps (CIL xv. 1665 a, 1, 1672),
and, perhaps in this period, considerable changes were made. Another
porticus was built across the hippodromus from the north end of
the exedra, and a wall parallel to this porticus, from the south end of
the exedra, thus dividing the whole area into three parts. Within the
southern division an elliptical enclosure was erected, the walls of
which were tangent to the cross-wall and the colonnade. The masonry
of this enclosure is of the latest period, and the walls, although the
remains are a metre high, have no solid foundations, but rest on the
debris of the area. This elliptical wall was strengthened at certain
points by spur walls extending to the colonnade. The only entrance
to the enclosure was at the south end, where two pedestals from the
house of the Vestals were built into the doorway. Openings, somewhat
over a metre in width, were made in the wall itself at regular intervals,
and within one of these openings is a basin or trough with two compart-
ments. It is probable that this enclosure was a vivarium, built to
contain wild animals, a sort of private menagerie of the emperors.
The site of the church of S. Cesario in Palatio, between the middle
of the twelfth and the beginning of the fifteenth century, has recently
been fixed by Hiilsen about the middle of the ‘ stadium,’ while from
the seventh to the middle of the ninth century the name belonged to
an oratory in the Lateran palace. This does not mean that the church
on the Palatine was not of older origin ; but the frescoes of the Byzan-
tine period in one of the chambers under the Villa Mills described by
Bartoli (BCr 1907, 200-204) must then be attributed to the monastery
connected with the church (Hiilsen in Misc. Ehrle ii. (Studi e Testi
vol. 36) 377-403 1 HCh 232-233 ; RAP iii. 45-48).
Excavations have been made and recorded at various times since
1552 (LS ii. 44, 45, 83 ; iii. 112 ; Mitt. 1894, 16 ; 1895, 276-283 ; Rosa,
Relazione, 1873, 78 ff. ; Gori, Arch. Stor. ii. 374 ff. ; NS 1877, 79-80,
109-110, 201-204 ; 1878, 66, 93, 346 ; 1893, 31-32, 70, 162-3, 358-360,
419), and permit a fairly accurate description of the building to be given
(GA 1888, 216-224; Mel. 1889, 184-229; Jahrb. 1895, 129-136; Mon.
L. v. 16-83 ; Sturm, Das kaiserl. Stadium, Wurzburger Programm,
1888; EIJ 94-97; Pascal in D’Esp. Mon. ii. 119-122).
(if) To the south-east of the stadium is a fourth division of the
palace ; the substructions, for a certain distance, belong to the period
of Domitian (for a painting in a lararium in them and for still earlier
remains of the time of Nero, see Mel. 1889, 228; PBS vii. 120-123),
while the superstructure {thermae} was in the main the work of Septimius
Severus, who also erected at a slightly later period the huge arched
substructions (Ill. 17, 19) which still tower over the valley of the circus
Maximus, and which must have once extended a considerable distance
further, right to the edge of the circus itself. Their constructive