DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0413
MURUS SERVII TULLII
351
The blocks employed are from 0.20 to 0.30 metre high, 0.55 to 0.66 wide
and 0.75 to 0.90 long. The most important sections of this wall are to
be seen :
(a) at the head of the Via delle Finanze, where the Villa Spithoever
once stood. This fine section of it (Ill. 36), some 35 metres long, was
discovered in 1907, but a modern street has been run through the middle
of it; while other pieces were discovered to the south-west in the garden
of the Ministry of Agriculture (LF 10 ; see Ann. d. Inst. 1871, 57 Jord,
i. 1. 212, n. 23 Z, w, n ; NS 1885, 249; 1907,438,504-510; 1909,221-223;
BC 1909, 119-121 ; 343-348 ; YW 1910, 16-17). Other similar remains
appear to have been found near S. Susanna and S. Maria della Vittoria
in the seventeenth century (Bartoli, Mem. 98, ap. Fea, Misc. i. 250 ; Jord,
i. I. 212 f), and some of it was still visible in 1867 (Jord. ty, though not
mentioned in other lists (BC 1888, 15-17).
(Z?) in the Piazza dei Cinquecento, opposite the station (BC 1876, 122).1
(c) at the south-west angle of the Palatine (TF 93, fig. 13 ; Delbriick,
Tempel des Apollo im Marsfelde, pl. iii., reproduced by Stuart Jones,
Companion, p. 32, fig. 7, and ASA 3, 4, is better).
(iZ) on the north side of the Capitol, under the retaining wall in
front of the German Embassy above the Vicolo della Rupe Tarpea
(Ann. d. Inst. 1871, 49-51 ; BC 1872, 139) ; omitted by Jord. i. 1. 207,
regarding it as a part of the substructions of the area of the temple
of Jupiter (supra, 48, 96 ; Jord. i. 2. 74 ; BC 1875, 182, 183 ; Ann.
d. Inst. 1876, 149 ; cf. Ficoroni, Vestigia, i. 42 ; Piranesi, Antichita,
i. pl. 44.2). The two probably coincided at this point.
(0) in the garden of the Palazzo Colonna at the west end of the
Quirinal (Ann. d. Inst. 1852, 324 ; Jord, d, i. 1. 211, n. 18).
Of these fragments of wall, (a) and (e) undoubtedly belonged to the
outer line, while (Z>) was the retaining wall at the back of the agger, which,
no doubt, existed from the first. Of (tZ) we can say nothing certain, and
(c) may belong either to the Palatine or to the Servian enceinte.
To ascribe them to the wall of the city of the Four Regions is impos-
sible, as (a) and (ZJ would both then be excluded ; and it is very doubtful
if this city ever had a wall of its own.
Frank maintains (TF 117, 118) that the battering back of the courses,
the use of anathyrosis and the presence of walls of Grotta Oscura tufa
of the fourth century b.c. in conjunction with these fragments, are
sufficient to make it probable that they should also be assigned to the
same period.
It seems, however, more likely that the cappellaccio wall should, as far
as our knowledge goes at present, be attributed to the sixth century b.c.2
1 Another piece was found in 1926 with possible remains of a postern, almost opposite
the entrance to the offices of the Museo Nazionale Romano (Museo delle Terme) in Via
Gaeta (YW 1927, 103).
2 To attribute it to the fifth or the earlier part of the fourth, and the agger itself to
the sixth, supposing that neither the inner nor the outer walls were integral parts of the
351
The blocks employed are from 0.20 to 0.30 metre high, 0.55 to 0.66 wide
and 0.75 to 0.90 long. The most important sections of this wall are to
be seen :
(a) at the head of the Via delle Finanze, where the Villa Spithoever
once stood. This fine section of it (Ill. 36), some 35 metres long, was
discovered in 1907, but a modern street has been run through the middle
of it; while other pieces were discovered to the south-west in the garden
of the Ministry of Agriculture (LF 10 ; see Ann. d. Inst. 1871, 57 Jord,
i. 1. 212, n. 23 Z, w, n ; NS 1885, 249; 1907,438,504-510; 1909,221-223;
BC 1909, 119-121 ; 343-348 ; YW 1910, 16-17). Other similar remains
appear to have been found near S. Susanna and S. Maria della Vittoria
in the seventeenth century (Bartoli, Mem. 98, ap. Fea, Misc. i. 250 ; Jord,
i. I. 212 f), and some of it was still visible in 1867 (Jord. ty, though not
mentioned in other lists (BC 1888, 15-17).
(Z?) in the Piazza dei Cinquecento, opposite the station (BC 1876, 122).1
(c) at the south-west angle of the Palatine (TF 93, fig. 13 ; Delbriick,
Tempel des Apollo im Marsfelde, pl. iii., reproduced by Stuart Jones,
Companion, p. 32, fig. 7, and ASA 3, 4, is better).
(iZ) on the north side of the Capitol, under the retaining wall in
front of the German Embassy above the Vicolo della Rupe Tarpea
(Ann. d. Inst. 1871, 49-51 ; BC 1872, 139) ; omitted by Jord. i. 1. 207,
regarding it as a part of the substructions of the area of the temple
of Jupiter (supra, 48, 96 ; Jord. i. 2. 74 ; BC 1875, 182, 183 ; Ann.
d. Inst. 1876, 149 ; cf. Ficoroni, Vestigia, i. 42 ; Piranesi, Antichita,
i. pl. 44.2). The two probably coincided at this point.
(0) in the garden of the Palazzo Colonna at the west end of the
Quirinal (Ann. d. Inst. 1852, 324 ; Jord, d, i. 1. 211, n. 18).
Of these fragments of wall, (a) and (e) undoubtedly belonged to the
outer line, while (Z>) was the retaining wall at the back of the agger, which,
no doubt, existed from the first. Of (tZ) we can say nothing certain, and
(c) may belong either to the Palatine or to the Servian enceinte.
To ascribe them to the wall of the city of the Four Regions is impos-
sible, as (a) and (ZJ would both then be excluded ; and it is very doubtful
if this city ever had a wall of its own.
Frank maintains (TF 117, 118) that the battering back of the courses,
the use of anathyrosis and the presence of walls of Grotta Oscura tufa
of the fourth century b.c. in conjunction with these fragments, are
sufficient to make it probable that they should also be assigned to the
same period.
It seems, however, more likely that the cappellaccio wall should, as far
as our knowledge goes at present, be attributed to the sixth century b.c.2
1 Another piece was found in 1926 with possible remains of a postern, almost opposite
the entrance to the offices of the Museo Nazionale Romano (Museo delle Terme) in Via
Gaeta (YW 1927, 103).
2 To attribute it to the fifth or the earlier part of the fourth, and the agger itself to
the sixth, supposing that neither the inner nor the outer walls were integral parts of the