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Excavations and Discoveries in the Forum Romanum and on the Palatine during the last Fifty Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Gianfilippo Carettoni
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Extract

The first decade of the twentieth century ended with a substantial sum of important discoveries in the Forum to its credit. Between 1898 and 1903 Giacomo Boni's intensive work had resulted in sensational finds—the Lapis Niger, the republican Comitium and the archaic cemetery ; he had finished excavating both on the north side of the Forum, uncovering the front of the Basilica Aemilia and the Curia, and to the south, where the shrine of the Fountain of Juturna had returned to light, together with the approach from the Forum to the Imperial Palace and the series of early Christian paintings in S. Maria Antiqua. Excavation of the House of the Vestals was also brought to completion. Interest in republican and archaic development had led to investigation beneath the paving of the Forum itself (Equus Domitiani, Lacus Curtius, underground galleries and ritual wells and pits), and to a search for the ancient track of the Via Sacra, with exploration of its shops and wells of Republican date. A mass of information and material collected as a result of these excavations has unfortunately, although scrupulously catalogued, remained largely unpublished. Aerial photographs made at this time give a clear picture of the Forum valley during the first years of the century : one vast excavation stretching from the Vulcanal to the Arch of Titus.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 1-2 , November 1960 , pp. 192 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Gianfilippo Carettoni 1960. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 For the excavations of this period see Ch. Hülsen, in Röm. Mitt. 1902, 1 ff.; 1905, 1 ff.

2 For the underground galleries: G. Carettoni in Bull. Com. LXXVI (1956–1958), 23 ff.

3 E. B. Van Deman, Mem. Am. Ac. 1925, 115 ff.

4 These are memoranda prepared by T. Ciacchi, the architect entrusted by Boni with the direction of the excavation; they are preserved at the Soprinten denza Antichità del Foro Romano and chiefly concern work of the years 1911–12 and 1922–23.

5 The part of the frieze reconstituted from the fragments is on view in the Antiquario Forense, and its publication by the Soprintendenza of the Forum is under way. A preliminary introduction is given by A. Bartoli, ‘Il fregio figurato della basilica Emilia,’ in Boll. d'Arte 1950, 289 ff.

6 Deman, E. B. Van, AJA XVII (1913), 14 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 To this stage belong the three column-bases connected by a single tufa foundation, visible at the western end of the hall (pl. XVI, 2). The remains of the preceding stage are accessible to students below the imperial pavement which has been restored and put back in position: G. Carettoni, ‘Esplorazioni nella Basilica Emilia,’ Not. Scavi 1948, 111 ff. Investigation of the whole internal area of the Basilica and the possible discovery, hitherto vainly awaited, of intact archaic strata, will help to complete our knowledge of the monument during the republican period and remove doubts concerning the date of the parts already unearthed; cf. G. Fuchs, Röm. Mitt. 1956, 14 ff.

8 Bartoli, , ‘I pozzi sacri dell'area sacra di Vesta,’ in Mon. Ant. Lincei XLV (1959)Google Scholar, col. 1 ff. Bowls of larger size reflecting for ritual reasons the shape of the archaic bowl, with raised vertical handle, had already been found by Boni (Not. Scavi 1900, 180).

9 Some of the wall paintings have been detached and are on view in the Antiquario Forense. The excavation report was left in manuscript form by Bartoli and will be published posthumously. For a brief review see Bartoli, ‘I lavori della Curia,’ Ist. Studi Romani 1938.

10 For the Aëtius base: Bartoli, , ‘Il Senato Romano in onore di Ezio,’ Rend. Pont. Ace. Rom. Arch. XXII (1946–1947), 267 ff.Google Scholar The questions raised by this inscription and the Atrium Libertatis have been discussed by Degrassi, A., Bull. Arch. Com. LXXII (1946–1948), 33 ff.Google Scholar, and F. Castagnoli, Rend. Lincei 1946, 276. The inscription of Theodoric, those from the doors of the Curia and the portico are published by Bartoli in Bull. Arch. Com. LXXIII (1949–1950), 77 ff.; the porphyry statue by Calza, G. in Rend. Pont. Acc. Arch. XXII (1946–1947), 185 ff.Google Scholar, and by Bartoli in Not. Scavi 1947, 85 ff.

11 Degrassi, A., ‘L'edificio dei Fasti Capitolini,’ Rend. Pont. Acc. Arch. XXI (1945–1946), 57 ff.Google Scholar; G. Gatti, ibid. 105 ff.: cf. also Holland, L. B., AJA LVII (1953), 1 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The present investigations were instigated and directed by R. Gamberini di Mongenet (who will also be responsible for their publication) with the permission and collaboration of the Soprintendenza of the Forum. While awaiting the definitive report a clear and detailed preliminary account of these excavations has been published by B. Andreae in Arch. Anzeiger 1957, col. 149 ff.

12 The group of tombs discovered on the north side of the Temple was published by Puglisi, S., in Bull. Paletn. n. s. VIII (1951–1952), 45 ff.Google Scholar; id. 64 (1954), 299 ff. The material is on view in the Antiquario Forense together with that from the cemetery. The tombs discovered in 1959 within the foundations of the Temple are still unpublished. The infant burial in a dolium, discovered by Boni in 1901 under a shop belonging to the Basilica Aemilia (unpublished; a brief report, based on information supplied by Boni, in the newspaper La Patria for 21st June, 1901) is to be connected with this cemetery.

13 P. Romanelli, in Boll. d'Arte 1955, 203 ff.

14 Boni published only a part of the excavations in the Comitium (Not. Scavi 1900, 295 ff.), concerned especially with the stratigraphic sections made by him in the area. The hemicycle of tufa blocks was studied many years later by Gjerstad, in Opuscula Archaeologica II (1941). 97 ff.Google Scholar The investigations in progress are directed by Romanelli.

15 Gjerstad, E., Early Rome I (1953), 21 ff.Google Scholar (Equus Domitiani); Bull. Paletn. 64 (1954), 277 ff.Google Scholar (Arch of Augustus); Bull. Com. LXXIII (1949–1950), 13 ff.Google Scholar (stratification in the Roman Forum and connected problems).

16 These too—like all the work carried out during these years on the Palatine and in the Forum—were not published at the time so that much evidence collected by the excavators can now, after many years, no longer be used. Boni gave a short account of these excavations in JRS III (1913), 243 ff. (a lecture). For excavations under the triclinium and the western nymphaeum of the palace: Carettoni, in Not. Scavi 1949, 48 ff. (with bibliography). The decoration of the vault in the south room is now preserved in the Antiquario Palatino; up to the excavations of Boni only the north-west rooms were accessible.

17 This is the opinion of Beyen (Studia Vollgraff 1948, 11). The apsidal wall has been detached and is on view in the Antiquario Palatino; the removal of the decoration still in place is also envisaged in order to prevent its total disappearance.

18 The painted decoration of the House of the Griffins, like that of the Aula Isiaca, has been published by G. E. Rizzo in Monumenti della pittura antica.

19 Investigations in the Aula Regia were directed by M. Marella, who has published the burials in Antichità II, fasc. II parte 2a (1950), 1 ff. See also O. Acanfora, in Bull. Com. 1951–52, 3 ff.; Gjerstad, , Early Rome II (1956), 282 ff.Google Scholar A brief review of the remains of the dwellings is given in Antichità II, part 1a, 27 ff. The material, which may be regarded as unpublished, is set out in the Antiquario Palatino (Sala protostorica).

20 For the huts: Puglisi, S., Romanelli, , etc., in Mon. Ant. Lincei XL (1951), col. 1 ff.Google Scholar For the cistern cf. Lugli, Roma Antica 426 ff. The material from this excavation is on view in the Antiquario Palatino (Sala Protostorica). A ring-corridor cistern was found beside the archaic cistern near the House of Livia, another has recently been unearthed under the Republican domus south-west of the House of Livia (see below); a third is situated on the western slope of the Palatine, near the ruins of the ‘Servian’ walls.

21 E. Paribeni, Museo Nazionale Romano — Sculture greche del V Secolo (Cataloghi dei Musei e Gallerie d'ltalia) 1953, no. 5.

22 An official report exists only for the first stage of the work, in Not. Scavi 1929, 3 ff. On the completion of the excavation see Bartoli, Domus Augustana (Studi Romani) 1938, and the ‘Notiziario’ of the Bull. Com. 1938, 282 ff.; 1940, 232. The head of Apollo (Marella, , in Bull. Com. LXXI (1943–1945), 123 ff.)Google Scholar is preserved in the Museo Nazionale Romano with the torso of the dancer (E. Paribeni, Catalogo cit. no. 107). The two heads of ephebi were found in fragments re-used in a late wall: G. Carettoni in Boll. d'Arte 1948, 289 ff. The heads of dadophori were published by Bartoli, in Rend. Pont. Acc. Arch. XXIX, 1956–1957, 26 ff.Google Scholar

Among the minor pieces may be mentioned the bust of a river-deity, used as a fountain ornament (Antiquario Palatino—unpublished).

23 Cicero, de harusp. resp. 24: ‘[ludis] quos in Palatio nostri maiores ante templum in ipso Matris Magnae conspectu Megalesibus fieri celebrarique voluerunt.’

24 The excavation was directed by S. Puglisi who identified the traces of huts and undertook the arrangement of the Sala Protostorica in the Antiquario Palatino. Puglisi, Romanelli, etc., in Mon. Ant. Lincei XLIX, col. 1 ff.

25 The excavation of the Temple of the Magna Mater will be reported by Romanelli in one of the official publications of the Accademia dei Lincei. The votive material is to be seen in the Antiquario Palatino, with that previously discovered by Boni in a cuniculus (water tank ?) in the temple precinct.

26 Carettoni, , ‘Tomba arcaica a cremazione scoper ta sul Palatino,’ in Bull. Paletn. Ital. 64 (1954), 261 ff.Google Scholar The tomb is shown in the Antiquario Palatino (Sala protostorica). Carettoni, ‘Nuove pitture del Palatino,’ in Boll. d'Arte 1955, 210 ff. The painting, detached and restored by the Istituto Centrale dei Restauro, is preserved in situ. The results of the topographic exploration in the House of Livia are published in the Not. Scavi 1953, 126 ff.; 1957, 72 ff.

27 Carettoni, , ‘Una nuova casa repubblicana sul Palatino,’ in Rend. Pont. Acc. Arch. xxix (1956–1957), 51 ff.Google Scholar

28 Apollo Citharoedus: Romanelli, in Boll. d'Arte 1955, 208 ff.; T. Dohrn, Antike Malerei—Kunstreihe in Farben 1959, plate 5 (the painting can be seen in the Antiquario Palatino). For the question of the Augustan precinct see: Lugli, , ‘Il tempio di Apollo Aziaco e il gruppo augusteo sul Palatino,’ in Atti Acc. Naz. S. Luca n.s. I (1951–1952), 26 ff.Google Scholar (with bibliography).

29 ‘Notiziario’ of the Bull. Com. LXVI (1938), 282Google Scholar.

30 The three heads from the domus Flavia are published in the Boll, d'arte 1951, 165 ff. (Carettoni); the torso of Aphrodite in Boll. d'Arte 1953, 105 ff. (M. Floriani Squarciapino). The statues are to be seen in the Antiquario Palatino. The portrait of a man, from the Stadium, is unpublished.