DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0510
442
REGIA
and a width of 8 metres, and was built of solid blocks of white marble,
with a pavement of marble slabs. Some fragments of the cornice in
this material are preserved.1 On the west and south sides were inscribed
in four double panels the fasti consulares, and on the pilasters of the
south side, the fasti triumphales, and many of the fragments of these
blocks have been preserved and are now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori
(Mitt. 1904, 117-123; 1905, 77-80; NS 1904, 8-10; 1925, 376-382;
1926, 62-67; YW 1925-6, in; BC 1904, 188; 1925, 238-270; WS
1902, 324-325 ; LS ii. 197-200; RE vi. 2027-2045).
The interior was divided into three rooms, in the largest of which
was found a pavement of Anio tufa blocks (perhaps therefore post-Sullan),
and in this a circular substructure of grey tufa, 2.53 metres in diameter,
dating from the early period.2 There was a doorway in the original
building, but it was roughly widened for the mediaeval house, and two
rude steps placed in front of it.
The irregular space between this part of the regia and the Sacra via
was occupied by an open court, with a covered ante-chamber at the east
end, where the main entrance seems to have been. The greatest width,
north and south, of the area of the regia was about 27 metres, and the
least about 12 metres. The court was paved with slabs of marble, and
in it are two wells and a cistern, which may date from a very early time,
though Frank assigns the greater age to the main (trapezoidal) building,
and contained fragments of various kinds. Near the cistern is a base
of tufa blocks, with traces of a circular superstructure. To this may
belong the round block of peperino with the inscription a. covri (second
century b.c.).3 At the south-west end of the marble building is a small
room, and near this in the wall was found the inscription (NS 1899, 128)
of the Schola Kalatorum (q.v.), but no identification of any of the
existing divisions of the ruins with any of the parts of the ancient regia
mentioned in classical literature is possible.
In the seventh or eighth century the regia was transformed into
a private house, the traces of which are visible in all parts of the area,
but especially along the Sacra via, where the house was approached
by a flight of two steps roughly made of marble and travertine, on which
stood a row of cipollino columns taken from some ancient building.
Literature : general—Jord. i. 2. 298-304, 423-429 ; Gilb. i. 225-227,
305-310, 341-352 ; iii. 407-410 ; Thedenat 91-94, 274-277 ; TIC 180-185 ;
1 They belong to the restoration of Calvinus (Toeb. cit. ; ASA 23, 45), though they have
hitherto been wrongly attributed to the period of Diocletian. Compare the similar cornices
of the Templum Divi Iuli and the temple of Saturn and the Capitolium at Terracina (Forma
Italiae, I. i. 1. 84). For the Doric fragments generally attributed to the Regia, see Arcus
Augusti.
2 This circular substructure has sometimes been identified with the sacrarium Martis,
being considered as the base of a conical chamber in which the spears were hung—a kind
of primitive seismograph (Atti cit. infra) ; but it has recently been interpreted as the ancient
hearth of the Regia (Mitt. 1921, 19-21).
3 A fragment of a puteal was also found, bearing the name regia (CIL i2. 1007, 1008).
REGIA
and a width of 8 metres, and was built of solid blocks of white marble,
with a pavement of marble slabs. Some fragments of the cornice in
this material are preserved.1 On the west and south sides were inscribed
in four double panels the fasti consulares, and on the pilasters of the
south side, the fasti triumphales, and many of the fragments of these
blocks have been preserved and are now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori
(Mitt. 1904, 117-123; 1905, 77-80; NS 1904, 8-10; 1925, 376-382;
1926, 62-67; YW 1925-6, in; BC 1904, 188; 1925, 238-270; WS
1902, 324-325 ; LS ii. 197-200; RE vi. 2027-2045).
The interior was divided into three rooms, in the largest of which
was found a pavement of Anio tufa blocks (perhaps therefore post-Sullan),
and in this a circular substructure of grey tufa, 2.53 metres in diameter,
dating from the early period.2 There was a doorway in the original
building, but it was roughly widened for the mediaeval house, and two
rude steps placed in front of it.
The irregular space between this part of the regia and the Sacra via
was occupied by an open court, with a covered ante-chamber at the east
end, where the main entrance seems to have been. The greatest width,
north and south, of the area of the regia was about 27 metres, and the
least about 12 metres. The court was paved with slabs of marble, and
in it are two wells and a cistern, which may date from a very early time,
though Frank assigns the greater age to the main (trapezoidal) building,
and contained fragments of various kinds. Near the cistern is a base
of tufa blocks, with traces of a circular superstructure. To this may
belong the round block of peperino with the inscription a. covri (second
century b.c.).3 At the south-west end of the marble building is a small
room, and near this in the wall was found the inscription (NS 1899, 128)
of the Schola Kalatorum (q.v.), but no identification of any of the
existing divisions of the ruins with any of the parts of the ancient regia
mentioned in classical literature is possible.
In the seventh or eighth century the regia was transformed into
a private house, the traces of which are visible in all parts of the area,
but especially along the Sacra via, where the house was approached
by a flight of two steps roughly made of marble and travertine, on which
stood a row of cipollino columns taken from some ancient building.
Literature : general—Jord. i. 2. 298-304, 423-429 ; Gilb. i. 225-227,
305-310, 341-352 ; iii. 407-410 ; Thedenat 91-94, 274-277 ; TIC 180-185 ;
1 They belong to the restoration of Calvinus (Toeb. cit. ; ASA 23, 45), though they have
hitherto been wrongly attributed to the period of Diocletian. Compare the similar cornices
of the Templum Divi Iuli and the temple of Saturn and the Capitolium at Terracina (Forma
Italiae, I. i. 1. 84). For the Doric fragments generally attributed to the Regia, see Arcus
Augusti.
2 This circular substructure has sometimes been identified with the sacrarium Martis,
being considered as the base of a conical chamber in which the spears were hung—a kind
of primitive seismograph (Atti cit. infra) ; but it has recently been interpreted as the ancient
hearth of the Regia (Mitt. 1921, 19-21).
3 A fragment of a puteal was also found, bearing the name regia (CIL i2. 1007, 1008).