Rome, Italy Cityscape Part I

By | January 2, 2022

The ancient city can still be found today in great Roman monuments and archaeological ruins, some of which are large, but also in the course of the streets and in squares. The valley between the Palatine Hill, the Capitol, the Quirinal and the Esquiline, where in the 9th and 8th centuries BC An Iron Age cemetery was located in the 6th century BC. Dehydrated (Cloaca maxima) and gained as the center of public life and shaped and redesigned over the centuries (Roman Forum).

According to ebizdir, the temple of the Capitoline Triassic was built in 509 BC. BC (Capitol), the Temple of Apollo on the (southern) Field of Mars in 431 BC. Consecrated (renewed several times, relocated new building in 34 BC). From 378 BC. The seven hills (Palatine, Capitol, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquilin, Caelius, Aventin) were fortified by the Servian wall made of tuff. From 312 B.C. The Via Appia and the Aqua Appia, the first (underground) aqueduct, were built; the first stone bridge was the Pons Aemilius (Ponte Rotto; 179–142 BC). In the 4th – 2nd centuries before and in the city. Century BC New temples and older buildings were replaced by new ones, e. B. on the Palatine the Magna Mater (204–191, renewed after 111 and after 3 BC). At the Forum Holitorium (vegetable market) at the old Tiberhafen there are remains of three from the early 1st century AD, some dating back to the 3rd century BC. At the Forum Boarium (cattle market) the well-preserved Portunus temple from the early 2nd century BC. BC, the remains of the Ara Maxima of Hercules from the 2nd century BC. And the marble round temple of Hercules Victor with 19 of the original 20 columns (built at the end of the 2nd century BC by an oil trader and renewed after 15 AD, so-called Vesta temple). On the adjacent field of Mars was 221 BC The Circus Flaminius was laid out on the Tiber, where a number of smaller temples were built. Further to the north are the complex of four temples of Largo Argentina (built at the end of the 4th, middle of the 3rd, 2nd century and 102 BC), the Theatrum Pompei (61 ff.) With two porticos as well, which was later renovated several times next to it a long portico with 100 columns (Hecatostylum), the Agrippathermen (25-19), the oldest public baths in Rome, and Agrippa’s Neptune temple and his pantheon building. No later than 12 BC The Cestius pyramid was built in the south in front of the city and was later incorporated into the brick Aurelian Wall (272 ff., Length approx. 19 km). The most magnificent gate was the Porta Appia (Porta San Sebastiano). With the name of Caesars are i.a. the Temple of Venus Genetrix on the Forum Iulium founded by him and the Basilica Iulia on the Roman Forum.

When Augustus divided the city into 14 regions, the field of Mars (Campus Martius) and the area to the right of the Tiber with Ianiculum (Gianicolo) were included in the urban area. Augustus ‘ intensive building activity extended to the northern (Augustus mausoleum, Ara Pacis Augustae) and southern Marsfeld (porticos, including Portikus der Octavia, renewed several times, including Severan around 200; completion of the Marcellus Theater, which overlaid parts of the old Circus Flaminius), the Palatine Hill (House of Livia, House of Augustus, Temple of Apollo), the Augustus Forum (the Temple of Mars Ultor was consecrated in 2 BC) and the Roman Forum (renovation of the Basilica Aemilia, restoration of the Basilica Iulia). Grave structures such as the circular building of Caecilia Metella on the Via Appia and the Cestius pyramid complete the picture of the Augustan era.

Rome also owes many new buildings to the later emperors. The first large palace complex on the Palatine was built by Tiberius, to whom the new building of the Concordia temple at the foot of the Capitol can be traced back (7-10 AD). After the major fire of 64 AD, Nero had the “Domus Aurea” built and began designing the “urbs nova”, v. a. he renewed the Circus maximus (Circus), where the fire had broken out. He had already built the Nerotherms in AD 62. The Flavian emperors also set accents: Vespasian laid out the Vespasiansforum and began the Colosseum instead of a lake in the former gardens of the Domus Aurea.

The Domitian palace complex (Domus Augustana) on the Palatine Hill dominated the Circus Maximus, and Domitian’s stadium still lives on today in the shape of the Piazza Navona. The imperial forums (forum) were expanded, new ones created; Trajan’s Forum and the construction of the Trajan’s markets with a semicircular facade (Mercati Traianei, 107–113) emerged; here the emperor also built his victory column (Trajan’s column). Hadrian consecrated the new building of the Pantheon in 128, built the Temple of Venus and Roma Dea (around 135; renewed after 327) on the Roman Forum and his mausoleum on the other side of the Tiber (Castel Sant’Angelo). During the imperial era, the old Tiber harbor was filled in and large warehouses (“horrea”) were built there. Many city districts were built on with multi-storey apartment buildings (“insulae”). Smaller cult buildings of oriental religions were also discovered, especially mithraea; Wall paintings are owned by the Mithraeum discovered under Santa Prisca (end of the 2nd century) and by the Palazzo Barberini (3rd century). The few buildings of the 3rd century, the thermal baths of Caracalla (212–217) and Diocletian (consecrated in 305), as well as those of the 4th century (Maxentius basilica, Arch of Constantine), show huge dimensions and magnificence.

The edict of tolerance issued by Milan in 313 made it possible to build the first Christian churches. Constantine the Great donated the Lateran Basilica (Lateran) and then the St. Peter’s Church (Old St. Peter) and before the walls of Rome (on burial sites of martyrs) other basilicas, z. B. San Sebastiano ad Catacumbas and San Lorenzo fuori le mura. San Paolo fuori le mura (above the tomb of the apostles) was donated by the emperors Theodosius I and Arcadius in 386. Constantia, daughter of Constantine the Great, donated a huge church building (today small remains) and its mausoleum (today Santa Costanza) in front of the walls. Title churches were built for cardinals within the walls, including Santa Sabina (425–432) and the fourth patriarchal basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore. These as well as Santi Cosma e Damiano, Santa Costanza and Santa Pudenziana have mosaics made between the 4th and 6th centuries. Santo Stefano Rotondo retains the spatial impression of an early Christian central building from the 5th century. Late antiquity also left important monuments with the Roman catacombs and their wall paintings.

Middle Ages: Since the 5th century, the temples, baths and theaters that were no longer used in Christian Rome fell into disrepair. Individual buildings (e.g. the Pantheon) were converted into Christian churches. Santa Maria Antiqua (with wall paintings especially from the early 8th century) was built in parts of the building at the Roman Forum. In the 9th century, Saracen invasions made it necessary to wall Saint Peter and its surroundings, and new churches were built (Santi Quattro Coronati; Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and San Marco with apse mosaics; Santa Prassede with triumphal arch mosaics; Santa Maria in Domnica).

In the 12th / 13th In the 19th century there was a lot of construction activity. The first senatorial palace was built on the Capitol. Fighting among the large aristocratic families required fortified residential buildings and dynasty towers for defense (including Torre dei Conti). In addition, new churches were founded, most of which were built according to the basilical scheme of early Christian sacred buildings, and conversions taking into account ancient Spolia (Santa Maria in Cosmedin, around 1123). Characteristic bell towers (Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Santa Maria in Trastevere) also date from this period. The church interiors were lavishly furnished (work of the Cosmats in San Clemente, San Lorenzo Fuori le mura, Santa Maria in Cosmedin; Wall paintings in San Giovanni a Porta Latina, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and in the oratory of St. New Year’s Eve of Santi Quattro Coronati; Apse mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Maria Maggiore, San Clemente). Giotto, P. Cavallini (inter alia in Santa Cecilia), J. Torriti (inter alia in Santa Maria Maggiore), Arnolfo di Cambio worked in the city. Around 1280, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the first and only major Gothic church building in Rome, began. During the exile of the Popes in Avignon (1309–76) and the subsequent schism (1378–1417), the city became impoverished. There was an almost complete interruption of artistic activity.

Rome, Italy Cityscape