THE TOMB OF ANNIA REGILLA.
From the Via Appia, just beyond the "Domine quo Vadis," a lane leads into the valley of the Caffarella. At the end of the lane, upon the left, is a beautiful brick tomb of the time of the Antonines. This is popularly known as the Temple of the Dio Rediculo. We have raised objections to this: first, because Pliny ("Nat. Hist.," x. 43) says the Campus Rediculi was at the second mile on the right of the Via Appia, whilst this ruin is upon the left; and secondly, from its construction, which shows it to have been a tomb. We have always considered this as the tomb of Annia Regilla, the wife of Herodes Atticus, consul A.D. 143. It stands upon his estate, where we know he erected a sepulchre to his wife, consecrating the surrounding land to Minerva and Nemesis. He was of Greek origin, and the ornaments are of Greek design; they are beautifully executed and well preserved, particularly the zigzag border. This view of ours has been recently confirmed: in digging up the soil at the base of the tomb, the following portion of the inscription has been found,—it is cut on a piece of rosso-antico:—
| ANNIA REGILLA | Annia Regilla, |
| HERODIS VXOR | the wife of Herodes, |
| LVMEN DOMVS | light of the house, |
| CVIVS HAEC | whose this |
| PRAEDIA FVERV | estate was |
In an inscription in the Louvre she is called "the light of the house, the lady of the land,"—these estates came to Herodes through Annia,—and in the newly found inscription she is called light of the house. Thus they both refer to the same lady whose tomb is here recognized.
The word rediculo is supposed by some to come from redeo, I return, as applied to the spot where Hannibal turned back from Rome; but from Pliny we know there was a place called Campus Rediculi, and that it was to the right of the Via Appia in coming out of the city, so it could have nothing to do with this field. Pompeius Festus, a Latin critic of the fourth century, ascribes it to the above meaning, but he would be no authority. Hannibal's camp was on the road to Tivoli, and from there he returned. "Hannibal moved his camp forward to the river Anio, three miles from the city. Posting there his troops, he himself, with two thousand horsemen, proceeded from the Colline Gate as far as the Temple of Hercules, riding about, and taking as near a view as possible of the situation and fortifications of the city" (Livy, xxvi. 10). "Discouraged by all circumstances, he moved his camp to the river Tutia, six miles from the city" (Ibid., xi.).
The tomb is built of yellow bricks, with red brick basement, pilasters, and ornaments: on one side is the pediment of the portico, which was formed with peperino columns. Over the square doorway is a decorated niche for the statue. The tomb contained originally two chambers, but the flooring of the upper one has been destroyed—thus making one—the vault of which was decorated with stucco ornaments. In construction it is like the painted tombs on the Via Latina, the bricks being carefully baked and laid with very little mortar between them, not unlike the entrance to some of the warehouses at Ostia, and of the same date—time of Hadrian; for being a tomb, and not cased with marble, it shows more careful construction than the ordinary brickwork of the time of that emperor.
Proceeding on our ramble along the Via Appia, upon the left is an unknown tomb; on the right, beyond, another. This is exactly at the second mile from the Porta Capena. Here was the Campus Rediculi. Was this the raven's tomb? (See [page 18].) The vineyard on the left contained the Columbaria of Livia, now destroyed. Beyond, entrance to the Catacomb of Prætextatus. Upon the right,
TOMB OF THE CÆCILII,
a shapeless mass of rubble. Several epitaphs to this family have been found here.