ROME. 



4.3 j 



l-'orums of 

 the emper- 

 trs. 



Home, and the spoils of the temple of Jerusalem. On the roof 

 is the apotheosis of the emprror. Through this mould- 

 ering arch are seen the ruins of the magnificent Coli- 

 seum, one of the grand monument* of ancient Home. 

 This amphitheatre is a structure of an oval form, 580 

 feet long, !?<) broad, and above IfiOO in circumference. 

 It was erected by Vespasian out of a part of the in -ae- 

 rials, and on a portion of the site of Nero's golden 

 house ; and though its demolition was begun by the bar- 

 barous conquerors of Rome, yet it was so perfect in 

 the thirteenth century, that games were exhibited in it 

 for the amusement of the Italian nubility. Upon the 

 revival of architecture in Rome, the Coliseum was used 

 as a quarry both by the vulgar and the grandees, and 

 Paul V. pulled much of it down in order to build his 

 huge palaces. This system of depredation would soon 

 have completed its destruction, had not Benedict XIV. 

 erected a cross in the centre of the arena, and declared 

 the place sacred, out of respect to the martyrs who had 

 suffered within its walls. In no part of its vast circuit 

 has the Coliseum been completely broken through, and 

 in only a small segment is its external elevation pre- 

 served entire. In the interior the destruction of the 

 building is deplorable. The marble seats are all torn 

 away, the steps and vomitories overthrown, and the 

 sloping walls and broken arches overgrown with the 

 luxuriance of vegetation.* Here is a temporary wood- 

 en staircase, by which visitors ascend to the highest 

 practicable point. See CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, Plate 

 CLXXXVI. for a part of the elevation of the Coliseum. 

 The forums of the emperors were chiefly situated to 

 the east of the Roman forum. The forum of Caesar 

 extended from the church of St. Adrian to the church 

 of St. Cosmo and Damiano, and in the court of that 

 convent are still to be seen some ma>sy walls which 

 are supposed to have been a part of the forum. The 

 forum of Augustus, which contained the splendid tem- 

 ple of Mars, stood behind the present church of Santa 

 Martina and S. Luca. Some fragments of walls be- 

 longing to the shops which encircled it still remain. 

 The forum of Vespasian is supposed to have been in 

 the vicinity of the temple of Peace. Of the forum of 

 Nerva there are some beautiful remains at the Area 

 Pantani. They consist of three fluted Corinthian co- 

 lumns and one pilaster of Parian mirble 50 feet high. 

 They are supposed to have belonged to the beautiful 

 temple of Nerva ; the columns are flunked by a lofty 

 wall of large masses of Tiburtine stone. The ruin of 

 the temple of Minerva, situated in that part of the forum 

 which was built by Domitian, consists of two marble 

 Corinthian columns in front of a wall of Tiburtine 

 stone. They are more than half buried beneath the 

 pavement, and support a richly sculptured frieze. The 

 forum of Trajan stood at the base of the Quirinal Hill. 

 The centre of the Piazza Trajana, which contains Tra- 

 jan's column, was excavated by the French to the level 

 of the ancient pavement, and they brought to light va- 

 rious majestic columns of black oriental granite, once 

 the supports of the Basilica Ulpia. The entrance to 

 this forum (near the little church of Santa Maria in 

 Campo Carleo) passed under the triumphal arch of 

 Trajan. At the farther extremity stood the temple of Tra- 

 jan, with the triumphal column in front of it, and in the 

 centre the Basilica Ulpia, one of the most splendid build- 

 ings of any age. The steps that led to this Basilica may 

 still be traced, and fragments of them are still strewed 

 around. The portico of the temple consisted of eight 

 immense columns ot oriental granite, a fragment of one 



of which was six feet in diameter, and must have bet n 



i^li. The column of Trajan, 140 feet high, i ."^^^^ 

 ascended by an eay winding staircase of solid Parian . l 

 imrble, lighted by loop-holes, and at the top stands the '" 

 bronze statue of St. Peter which was placed there by 

 Sextus V. (Sae CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, Vol. VI. 

 533.) In the midst of the forutn of Antonius Pius, a 

 little to the north of that of Trajan, stands the trium- 

 ph il column of Marcus Aurelius, covered with the 

 sculptures of hi* victories, and not much inferior to 

 that of Trajan. The only other remains of the forum 

 are the eleven beautiful Corinthian columns of Grecian 

 marble, now built into the modern wall of the custom- 

 house. 



In the forum Boarium or market of Rome, stands JamuQua- 

 the picturesque and magnificent ruin of Janus Quadri- drifrontis. 

 frontis. It has four similar fronts, in each of which 

 there is an arch of entrance, and it is built of immense 

 blocks of Grecian marble. The brick walls on its sum- 

 mits are part of a fortress into which it was converted 

 during the datk ages. At the side of the old church 

 of St. Georgio in Velatri, is a little insignificant mar- 

 ble arch, erected by the trades people to the -emperor 

 Severus, who is sculptured upon it along with his wife 

 Julia and his son Caracalla, that of Geta having been 

 erased. 



Close to this forum stands the Cloaca Maxima, the Cloaca 

 most ancient of all the ruins of Rome, and considered Maxima, 

 the work of Tarquinius Superbus. The tunnel was 

 once so large that a waggon of hay could pass through 

 it. All that is now seen of it is the upper part of a 

 grey massy arch of Peperin stone, as solid as it was on 

 the day it was built. It is now choaked up nearly to 

 its top by the artificial elevation of the surface of mo- 

 dern Rome ; but it still serves as the common sewers 

 of the city. Close to the Cloaca Maxima, is shown the 

 celebrated fountain of Juturna. 



One of the largest and most beautiful temples of an- Pantheon. 

 tiquity is the Pantheon or Rotunda, built by Agrippa. 

 In our article on CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, Vol. VI. p. 

 C22, we have given a full and detailed account of this 

 interesting ruin, with the dimensions of all its parts, 

 and we have likewise given a ground plan and accurate 

 section of it in Plate CLXII. 



The temple of Vesta is a beautiful little building, Tempi* of 

 near the Tiber, of Parian marble, and having a portico Vesta, 

 consisting of a circular colonnade of twenty fluted Cor- 

 inthian columns. The French removed the modern 

 wall that rilled up the intercolumniation ; but its coarse 

 tiled conical roof resting immediately on the capitals, 

 destroys the general effect. The circular altar built 

 of marble, is converted into a chapel dedicated to La 

 Madonna dell' Sole. 



Opposite to this building is the thurch of Santa Ma- 

 ria in Cosmedin, built on the ruins of what is called the 

 temple of Pudicitia Patrizia. The ruins within the 

 church are the remains of a magnificent peripteral tem- 

 ple, with eight complete columns in front like the Par- 

 thenon. Six of the front columns may now be traced, 

 and some of the lateral ones. The temples of Fortuna 

 Virilis, of Peace, of Antoninus and Faustina, and of 

 Faunus have been all described in our article on CIVIL 

 ARCHITECTURE, Vol. VI. p. 533, 618, and most of 

 them delineated in Plates CLI1I. and CLXI V. 



The church of S.S. Cosmo and Damiano is partly Teni;ile of 

 formed out of what is considered to have been the 

 double temple of Romulus and Remus; the first having 

 been circular, and the second square. Here was found 



Scbastiano has published the Flora Colisea, containing 260 different plants. There are above 300 ; the finest of which are Papilionaceous. 



