Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the Campagna

by Robert Burn

Beyond the triclinium and nymphæum we come to the remains of the largest court in the suite, which is called the peristylium, occupying a space of 140 by 154 paces, anciently surrounded by a portico of columns of Porta Santa marble. The pavement and decorations of this quadrangle would seem by the remains to have been most superb. On the north-west side of it are eight rooms of various shapes, arranged symmetrically round an octagonal central chamber, from which four large doors open, with four corresponding niches. The same plan of rooms was carried out also on the opposite side of the peristylium, as was shown by some excavations in 1869. These were waiting-rooms and offices of various kinds. From the great quadrangle of the peristylium we pass to the grand audience chamber, the position of which corresponds generally to that of the atrium of a Roman house. This was surrounded by a portico of sixteen Corinthian columns of foreign marbles, and their frieze and bases were ornamented in a most elaborate manner. Eight niches with colossal statues of basalt are said by Bianchini to have stood round this court, and in the Tribune at the southern end was placed the solium augustale, where the emperor sat on grand occasions, when meetings of the senate or other bodies were held here. The grand entrance of this atrium, which looked towards the Arch of Titus, was adorned by two huge columns of giallo antico, and the threshold stone consisted of a mass of Greek marble from which the altar of the church of the Pantheon was made. Many of the marbles from this atrium were taken by the Farnese to Naples.

Lararium.

On the right hand of this reception room towards the Villa Mills was a building which shows us by its position and shape that it was the lararium or shrine of the household gods where sacrifices were offered on solemn occasions. The remains of an altar were discovered here.

Basilica.

Opposite to the lararium are the foundations of a building with a tribune and podium, probably used by the emperor in cases such as those described by Tacitus, when imperial constraint was exercised over a legal verdict. Two rows of columns, arranged as is commonly the case in the basilicæ, and a portion of some white marble railings have been found and preserved here.

Along the side of this tribunal hall and that of the peristylium and its adjoining offices, ran a long portico connecting the whole suite of halls together.

The history of this range of imperial buildings has been very probably supposed to be as follows. Vespasian intended them to be used in support of his revival of the Augustan imperial policy, and that a name such as Ædes Publicæ, “National Chambers,” should be given to them.[18]

Accordingly, all these rooms have the character of public rather than private buildings. There is apparently no provision for domestic life, and all the sections of the edifice seem to have been public audience or banqueting rooms.

Porta Mugionia.
Jupiter Stator.

In front of the last described buildings, which we have called the basilica, the atrium, and the lararium, is an open space, on the right hand of which, looking towards the Arch of Titus, a fragment of the earliest walls of the Palatine remains, constructed of tufa blocks taken from the hill underneath. Beyond this, towards the Arch of Titus, are the paving stones of an ancient road which was probably the approach to the palace, and to the left of this road stand the relics of one of the most ancient gates, the Porta Mugionia. This is described by Vacca as having been discovered at the end of the sixteenth century, when it was still decorated with marble. The substructions alone now remain, and close to them may still be traced the foundations of an ancient temple which can be no other than the temple of Jupiter Stator. Solinus says that the house of Tarquinius Priscus was near the Porta Mugionia, and Livy states that he lived near the Porta Mugionia. The statue of Clœlia is also said by Livy to have stood at the top of the Sacra Via which was near the Arch of Titus, and this statue is further placed by Pliny near the Porta Mugionia.[19] The remains of the temple show that it was arranged according to the cardinal points of the heavens, looking north and south. On the foundation stones are the names of Philocrates and Diocles, masons employed in building. Three old inscriptions referring to the worship of Jove were found here, and are to be seen in the Palatine Museum.