DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0442
38ο
PALATINUS MONS
By this time the lower slopes of the hill had already been occupied
by various churches. S. Anastasia, at the western angle near the
Lupercal, probably goes back to the middle of the fourth century. It
was erected in imitation of the Holy Place in Bethlehem, and was deco-
rated with paintings by Damasus (Inscr. Chr. ii. i. p. 150) and was the
first of the titular churches, ranking only after the Lateran and S. Maria
Maggiore (Mel. 1887, 387-413 ; Grisar, Anal. Rom. i. 595 sqq. ; HCh
172-173). Under the church are important remains of six different periods
from republican opus quadratum down to repairs of the time of Theodoric
(HJ 134 ; ZA 269-274). They have nothing to do with the circus
Maximus, but are remains of arcades belonging to the lower slopes of the
Palatine.
S. Teodoro, on the north-west side, lies well above the classical
level, and is constructed in the second of the three courtyards of the
Horrea Agrippiana (q.v.). It is mentioned in the Not. Diacon. of the
sixth century. The mosaic in the apse is attributed to the sixth century
(Wilpert, Mos. und Mai. 1074 ; cf. HCh 489).
For S. Maria Antiqua, see Domus Tiberiana ; and for the churches
on the south (S. Lucia and S. Maria in Pallara), see Septizonium, Domus
Augustiana (p. 165). For S. Cesareo, see id. (p. 164).
The centre of the hill must have been rendered inaccessible by earth-
quakes, notably by that of the time of Leo IV ; and we have practically
no mention of it in the Anonymus Einsiedlensis nor in the Mirabilia.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Palatine, still called
by its mediaeval name of Palazzo Maggiore, was covered with gardens
and vineyards. Between 1540 and 1550 the whole of the north half
of the hill was bought by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and converted
into a garden. Excavations were made in the state apartments of the
Domus Augustiana (q.v.) in the eighteenth century ; but the site of the
Domus Tiberiana (q.v.) remained untouched until the excavations of
Rosa for Napoleon III (which cannot have been very thorough) and is
still a beautiful example of a formal garden (BA 1914, 369-380). The
central portion belonged to the Paolostati family, from whom it passed
successively to the Mattei, Spada, Magnani ; then it was bought by Sir
William Gell, but soon passed to Mr. Charles Mills, who built the pseudo-
Gothic villa which still bears his name. Later on it became a nunnery.
The Vigna Ronconi occupied the south-east portion, from the Stadium
onwards, in the sixteenth century; while the south-west portion was in the
hands of the English College until after 1870. The east angle was occupied
by the Vigna Barberini.
See LR 107-189 ; Haugwitz, Der Palatin (Rome 1901) ; NS 1904,
43-46 (the latest survey and map x); HJ29-III; RE i. A. ΙΟΙ I sqq., 1026;
ZA 159-221 ; ASA 133-138; Hiilsen, Forum und Palatin, Berlin 1926,
and (in an English translation) New York 1928.
1 Repeated on a larger scale in Reina and Barbieri, Media pars Urbis, Rome 1911.
PALATINUS MONS
By this time the lower slopes of the hill had already been occupied
by various churches. S. Anastasia, at the western angle near the
Lupercal, probably goes back to the middle of the fourth century. It
was erected in imitation of the Holy Place in Bethlehem, and was deco-
rated with paintings by Damasus (Inscr. Chr. ii. i. p. 150) and was the
first of the titular churches, ranking only after the Lateran and S. Maria
Maggiore (Mel. 1887, 387-413 ; Grisar, Anal. Rom. i. 595 sqq. ; HCh
172-173). Under the church are important remains of six different periods
from republican opus quadratum down to repairs of the time of Theodoric
(HJ 134 ; ZA 269-274). They have nothing to do with the circus
Maximus, but are remains of arcades belonging to the lower slopes of the
Palatine.
S. Teodoro, on the north-west side, lies well above the classical
level, and is constructed in the second of the three courtyards of the
Horrea Agrippiana (q.v.). It is mentioned in the Not. Diacon. of the
sixth century. The mosaic in the apse is attributed to the sixth century
(Wilpert, Mos. und Mai. 1074 ; cf. HCh 489).
For S. Maria Antiqua, see Domus Tiberiana ; and for the churches
on the south (S. Lucia and S. Maria in Pallara), see Septizonium, Domus
Augustiana (p. 165). For S. Cesareo, see id. (p. 164).
The centre of the hill must have been rendered inaccessible by earth-
quakes, notably by that of the time of Leo IV ; and we have practically
no mention of it in the Anonymus Einsiedlensis nor in the Mirabilia.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Palatine, still called
by its mediaeval name of Palazzo Maggiore, was covered with gardens
and vineyards. Between 1540 and 1550 the whole of the north half
of the hill was bought by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and converted
into a garden. Excavations were made in the state apartments of the
Domus Augustiana (q.v.) in the eighteenth century ; but the site of the
Domus Tiberiana (q.v.) remained untouched until the excavations of
Rosa for Napoleon III (which cannot have been very thorough) and is
still a beautiful example of a formal garden (BA 1914, 369-380). The
central portion belonged to the Paolostati family, from whom it passed
successively to the Mattei, Spada, Magnani ; then it was bought by Sir
William Gell, but soon passed to Mr. Charles Mills, who built the pseudo-
Gothic villa which still bears his name. Later on it became a nunnery.
The Vigna Ronconi occupied the south-east portion, from the Stadium
onwards, in the sixteenth century; while the south-west portion was in the
hands of the English College until after 1870. The east angle was occupied
by the Vigna Barberini.
See LR 107-189 ; Haugwitz, Der Palatin (Rome 1901) ; NS 1904,
43-46 (the latest survey and map x); HJ29-III; RE i. A. ΙΟΙ I sqq., 1026;
ZA 159-221 ; ASA 133-138; Hiilsen, Forum und Palatin, Berlin 1926,
and (in an English translation) New York 1928.
1 Repeated on a larger scale in Reina and Barbieri, Media pars Urbis, Rome 1911.