DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0390
332 MAUSOLEA AUGUSTORUM—MAUSOLEUM AUGUSTI
Mausolea Augustorum : see Sepulcrum Mariae Stilichonis.
Mausoleum Augusti : * the mausoleum erected, as a dynastic rather than
as a personal monument (we may note that it had become customary
to grant the privilege of burial in the campus Martius to persons of dis-
tinction by special decree of the senate), by Augustus for himself, his
family, and his successors in the northern part of the campus Martius,
between the via Flaminia and the Tiber, as early as 28 b.c. (Suet. Aug. 100 :
(mausoleum) inter Flaminiam viam ripamque Tiberis sexto suo consulatu
extruxerat, circumiectasque silvas et ambulationes in usum populi
iam turn publicarat; Strabo v. 3. 9, p. 236: το ~Μ.αυσώλειον καλοάμενον,
επί κρηπϊδος ΰ\]/ηλής λευκολίθον προς τω ποταμω γωμα μεγα, αχρι κορυφής
τοΐς άειθαλεσι των δένδρων συνηρεφες ' επ’ άκρω μεν ουν είκων εστί γαλκη
του 'Σεβαστού καΐσαρος, υπδ δε τω γωματι θηκαί εί,σιν αυτόν καί των
συγγενών και οικείων, όπισθεν δε μεγα άλσος περιπάτους θαυμαστούς εγον) ;
Fasti Cupr. (CIL i2. p. 62) : [ma]esol[eum] ; Mart. ii. 59. 2 : Caesareus
tholus (see Mica Aurea). It was thus the first building which he erected
in the Campus Martius, and characterises his conception of the principate
(HJ 497).
From these passages and from the existing remains we may gather
that it consisted of a large circular drum, faced with travertine, or, as
some think, marble ; this was 87 metres in external diameter at the base.
Above it rose an upper arcade, traces of which may be seen in all the
sixteenth century views, and there were probably other tiers above,
planted with evergreen trees, while at the summit was a bronze statue of
Augustus. The entrance was on the south, with a small chamber over
it, lighted by a window; and the passage way, 3.5 metres wide, led
through a double ring of (originally) closed chambers to a wall in which
there were two doorways, one on each side of the mass of concrete in front
of the passage way. This wall runs right up, and its inner face is visible
in the corridor surrounding the present concert hall : and it formed the
enclosing wall of the Renaissance garden (see below). Within it, at a
lower level, were two, or perhaps three, concentric corridors : but the
vaults in this area have collapsed, and the whole has been used as a
lime kiln in the Middle Ages ; so that the urns and inscriptions which
have been found here were not in situ. In the centre is a square space,
probably originally filled with masonry as a support for the statue of
Augustus.
Between the outermost concentric wall and the next is a series of twelve
large chambers, which were probably entirely inaccessible in ancient times.
The outermost wall preserved to any considerable height has twelve semi-
circular niches, not intended for decoration, but as supports for the
external skin wall of travertine. In the centre of each niche is a chord
wall, probably intended to break up the mass of earth with which the niche
was filled, and prevent its swelling and causing collapse. There is no trace
of a square foundation, and the mausoleum probably resembled one of the
Mausolea Augustorum : see Sepulcrum Mariae Stilichonis.
Mausoleum Augusti : * the mausoleum erected, as a dynastic rather than
as a personal monument (we may note that it had become customary
to grant the privilege of burial in the campus Martius to persons of dis-
tinction by special decree of the senate), by Augustus for himself, his
family, and his successors in the northern part of the campus Martius,
between the via Flaminia and the Tiber, as early as 28 b.c. (Suet. Aug. 100 :
(mausoleum) inter Flaminiam viam ripamque Tiberis sexto suo consulatu
extruxerat, circumiectasque silvas et ambulationes in usum populi
iam turn publicarat; Strabo v. 3. 9, p. 236: το ~Μ.αυσώλειον καλοάμενον,
επί κρηπϊδος ΰ\]/ηλής λευκολίθον προς τω ποταμω γωμα μεγα, αχρι κορυφής
τοΐς άειθαλεσι των δένδρων συνηρεφες ' επ’ άκρω μεν ουν είκων εστί γαλκη
του 'Σεβαστού καΐσαρος, υπδ δε τω γωματι θηκαί εί,σιν αυτόν καί των
συγγενών και οικείων, όπισθεν δε μεγα άλσος περιπάτους θαυμαστούς εγον) ;
Fasti Cupr. (CIL i2. p. 62) : [ma]esol[eum] ; Mart. ii. 59. 2 : Caesareus
tholus (see Mica Aurea). It was thus the first building which he erected
in the Campus Martius, and characterises his conception of the principate
(HJ 497).
From these passages and from the existing remains we may gather
that it consisted of a large circular drum, faced with travertine, or, as
some think, marble ; this was 87 metres in external diameter at the base.
Above it rose an upper arcade, traces of which may be seen in all the
sixteenth century views, and there were probably other tiers above,
planted with evergreen trees, while at the summit was a bronze statue of
Augustus. The entrance was on the south, with a small chamber over
it, lighted by a window; and the passage way, 3.5 metres wide, led
through a double ring of (originally) closed chambers to a wall in which
there were two doorways, one on each side of the mass of concrete in front
of the passage way. This wall runs right up, and its inner face is visible
in the corridor surrounding the present concert hall : and it formed the
enclosing wall of the Renaissance garden (see below). Within it, at a
lower level, were two, or perhaps three, concentric corridors : but the
vaults in this area have collapsed, and the whole has been used as a
lime kiln in the Middle Ages ; so that the urns and inscriptions which
have been found here were not in situ. In the centre is a square space,
probably originally filled with masonry as a support for the statue of
Augustus.
Between the outermost concentric wall and the next is a series of twelve
large chambers, which were probably entirely inaccessible in ancient times.
The outermost wall preserved to any considerable height has twelve semi-
circular niches, not intended for decoration, but as supports for the
external skin wall of travertine. In the centre of each niche is a chord
wall, probably intended to break up the mass of earth with which the niche
was filled, and prevent its swelling and causing collapse. There is no trace
of a square foundation, and the mausoleum probably resembled one of the