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Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca Istituto di istruzione secondaria Liceo Scientifico statale “Plinio Seniore” Via Montebello 122- 00185 Roma Tel 064464507 Fax 064452945 [email protected] “BECOMING A GUIDE IN THE ANCIENT ROME” The work has been produced by the class III B Liceo Scientifico “Plinio Seniore” The students have been monitored by teachers: Mrs Daiana Fuccellara e Mr Galliano Maria Speri ANNO SCOLASTICO 2011-2012 ROMAN FORUM At the beginning the Roman Forum was a valley, situated between the Palatine Hill and the Capitoline hill where a lot of tributaries of the Tiber flowed. On this hills there where a lot of small agricultural and pastoral villages that used the valley as a cimitery. Under king Tarquinio Prisco it was created the Cloaca Maxima that drained all the valley and the Roman Forum was built. The Forum was considered by the Romans as a political, administrative, judicial and commercial centre. This place goes from the Arch of Titus to the Tabularium. The meeting square was used for political and judicial activites, while behind it there where the commercial activities. From the VIVII A.D. the Arch of Titus was used as a part of the fortifications of the Frangipane, a powerful family of the period. In the XVIII century the architect Valadier decided to restore it but he used travertine instead of pentelic marble, because in that time the architects always used a different material. THE CONDITION OF ROMAN FORUM The Forum at the end of empire: some pagan temples could survive because they were transformed into churches, such as the temple of Romulus, who was replaced by the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda and the bronze door is the original of the Diocletian period. Many other relics from Roman antiquity were re-used in medieval churches and in this way they have been preserved. In the Middle Ages there was a different fate for other monuments that were destroyed because the Forum was used as pasture for domestic animals and as arable land, in fact its name would have become "Campo Vaccino", a place where cows grazed and the territory left free from this activity was used by important families to build their mansions. For centuries, the Forum was used as a kind of cheap source from which it was taken whatever building material was necessary. In fact, giving the almost total absence of commerce, it was the only possibility to obtain marbles, a very expensive material. During its golden age, the Roman Empire controlled the marble trade; these marbles were brought from far away and were landed at Ostia and then processed at the center of the empire; however, the availability of marble was scarce and so many of these ancient monuments adorned with marbles were plundered and re-used in other buildings. This use of the Forum’s monuments continued even during the Renaissance because of various popes’ willingness to rebuild Rome: an example is Pope Julius III (1503-1513) who decided to use the entire area as a quarry of materials for re-use. In many cases, precious marbles were transformed into lime; even splendid sculptures ended up that way. The greatest destruction took place between 1540 and 1550, when work picked up on the building of the Basilica of St Peter. The destruction of the monuments was fast: sometimes a single month was enough to demolish almost intact buildings. THE PLUNDERING AND THE REUSE OF THE FORUM’S STRUCTURE An example of re-use of the Forum in Medieval structures, is the porch of the Middle Ages (1200), where we can see the different soil layers indicating different ages of reuse. At the time of Charlemagne (IX century), the valley of the Forum and Rome were marred by a very strong earthquake and a flooding of the Tiber, which covered many ruins. Until the end of XIX century all the ruins were not visible, so almost no one knew anything about the Roman Forum. It was only in the late XIX century that interest revived in a more scholarly approach to Roman antiquity, but it was only after the Unification of Italy that major excavations were conducted in the Forum. The leading archaeologists were Pietro Rosa, Giuseppe Fiorelli, Rodolfo Lanciani and Giacomo Boni, scholars to whom Roman archaeology is deeply indebted. Giacomo Boni, in particular, decided to undertake an extensive excavation terminating it in a few years (1898-1903). He discovered many previously unknown things, including a burial ground containing Archaic tombs of the IX century BC, before the founding of the city. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE FORUM The Roman Forum was used for political meetings, for commercial purposes and also for religious functions. In the Forum there are several churches that during the years have been reconstructed, one of those is the Basilica Emilia. The Basilica Emilia was the square of the Roman Forum and had a commercial function but also possessed the characteristic of being covered. The Basilica Emilia derives from Greek structures has a rectangular plane full of columns that support the roof. The interior spaces of the columns are called naves, which later became the naves of churches, in fact the Christian basilicas take over the structures of the classical Roman basilica. The Basilica Emilia is the oldest of the Forum. In the Forum there is also the Basilica Julia, which was built by Julius Caesar; originally, there were other more ancient basilicas, but they were destroyed and replaced by these latter ones. We also find the remains of the Temple of Deified Julius, which was built by Augustus in 44 BC following the death of Caesar, who was killed in the Curia which, at that time, was not in the Roman Forum because the old structure was under renovation. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE FORUM The Curia was hosted in the Comitium, an early assembly area that preceded the Forum, where the 300 members of the senate met. In that an open place were taken the most important decisions of the State. Meetings with foreign delegations also took place in the Curia which was the real political center of the Eternal City. The Comitium has had several phases. Originally it was a temple, i.e. a place that had been consecrated, had its margins and limits, within that limit, the area was sacred. It was built as a temple of rectangular base, as all Italic buildings, and was oriented according to cardinal points. Formerly, the Curia was in the north peak of the Comitium. The first was the Curia Ostilia built by Tullius Ostilius (third king of Rome). When Caesar became an extremely powerful man he could change the conception of Rome and put an end to the Republican era. He built his own Forum (Caesar's Forum), which was started in 54 BC and was inaugurated in 46 BC. It proved very expensive but that was not a problem for Caesar who was rich with the booty coming from the Gallic Wars. Later, after Caesar made his forum, many emperors, like Trajan, Augustus and Nerva built their own forums. THE REGIA IN ANCIENT ROME The Regia was a structure in Ancient Rome in the Roman Forum that originally functioned as the residence or one of the main headquarters of the kings of Rome and later as the office of the Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Roman religion. It occupied a triangular patch of terrain between the Temple of Vesta, the Temple of the Deified Julius and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Only the foundations of Republican/Imperial Regia remain. Like the Curia, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times, as far back as the Roman monarchy. Studies have found multiple layers of similar buildings with more regular features, prompting the theory that this "Republican Regia" was to have a different use. THE LAPIS NIGER The Lapis Niger (Latin, "Black Stone") is an ancient shrine in the Roman Forum. Together with the associated Vulcanal (a sanctuary to Vulcan) it constitutes the only surviving remnant of the old Comitium, an early assembly area that preceded the Forum and is thought to derive from an archaic cult site of the VII or VIII century BC. The black marble paving (I century BC) and modern concrete enclosure (early XX century) of the Lapis Niger overlie an ancient tomb or altar and a stone block with one of the earliest known Latin inscriptions (ca. 570–550 BC). The superstructure monument and shrine may have been built by Julius Caesar during his reorganization of the Forum and Comitium space. Alternatively, this may have been done a generation earlier by Sulla during one of his construction projects around the Curia Hostilia. The site was rediscovered and excavated from 1899 to 1905 by Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni. The arch of Titus The arch of Titus is a triumphal arch with a single arch, situated on the northern of the Palatine. It dates back to 81 B.C. and was built by Domitian in memory of the Jewish war waged by Titus in Galilee. For some centuries it was part of the sacred way, a road that was used by the army each time they returned from victorious battles. This march started from the Foro Boario, passed for the Roman Forum and finally arrived at the temple of Giove Capitolino, located on the Capitol hill. On the trabeation there is a frieze rappresenting scenes from the Jewish wa the rich booty consisting of all valuables, sacred symbols of that culture, there are the seven branched candle stick (menora and the typical silver trumpets. On a reli may also notice the insigns displayed by t soldiers, witch were painted scenes of th battle. MAMERTINE PRISON OR TULLIANUM The Mamertine prison is the most ancient prison of the Ancient Rome and is located in the Roman Forum. The structure of the Mamertine prison is composed by: .Church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters .Chapel of the Holy Cross .Prison .Tullianum The Tullianum was built in the VII century BC, during the reign of Ancus Martius even if it was named after Servius Tullius or Tullius Ostilius. The Christianization of the building is dated around the VIII century AD. A fresco, representing God’s blessing hand and a part of halo, found in the Tullianum, was painted in that period. There is a stair that brings to the ancient level. The facade, made of blocks of travertine, was realized during the early imperial age and has got a frame with the names of consuls Rufinius and Nerva. This facade covers an older one. MAMERTINE PRISON OR TULLIANUM FRESCOES In the upper floor there are some frescoes, dating to different periods; one of these is made of different layers. Its original painting represents St. Peter and St. Paul, while the second layer represents Jesus who crowns them. On the same wall there is another fresco (1250) representing the Vergin Mary that hugs the believers with her red cloak; they don’t look at her. Instead they look at the Saints in the other picture. On the upper right corner we can see a church, as we understand thanks to its bell tower. A Medieval legend tells that St. Peter, going down to the Tullianum, fell hitting the wall, thus leaving the imprint of is head in the stone (the imprint, from 1720, is protected by a grille). According to a legend, St. Peter and St. Paul, imprisoned in the dungeon with other followers of Christ, made a spring of water miraculously appear and were able to convert and baptize the guards of the prison, Processus and Martianus, who became martyrs themselves. The name “mamertine” may be a reference to “Mamers” the ancient name of Mars, or to the name of the Roman King Ancus Martius. The term city-state, which is also frequently used in school textbooks, in reality cannot be referred to the Roman civilization because this concept also implies a division of powers, which was inconceivable for the empire. So it often happens that, because of those mistakes, we build up completely wrong images about the ancient Roman population. Bronze plate with Lex de imperio Vespasiani 69-70 AD This inscription is called Lex de Imperio Vespasiani. But this name is modern and it was assigned by modern scholars on the basis of the specific content of this law. It should appear at the beginning of the inscription, as a kind of title, but it doesn’t . The content is presented immediately: scholars think that this is the law that in 69 A.D. assigned the imperium, or the power to rule Rome and its districts, to emperor Vespasian, who was the first exponent of the Flavian dynasty. This law is inscribed on a bronze plate in the Capitoline Museums and it is dated 69 A.D. The interpretation of the text is not univocal, both because the law is fragmentary and it is the unique example of lex regia we posses today. It is not known if there were other examples of such laws. According to some scholars, the possibile existence of other similar laws for the investiture of the emperors of the Gens Julia dynasty would completely change the value of the present law. For this reason we can only make hypotheses. It is considered a problematic law, because scholars are divided into “historians” and “jurists”. The so-called historians believe that this law has introduced new powers, that emperors before Vespasian did not have. Jurists state, on the contrary, that this law does not introduce any new power but simply regulates the powers that emperors had before Vespasian. The lex is made up of eight clauses and one sanctio. The content of the clauses can be summarized in the following way: I Clause: the power to stipulate foedera and to declare war and peace; II Clause: the power to summon and preside over the Senate, to issue the relatio, and to vote over the senatus consulta; III Clause: it ratifies the legitimacy of the Senate meetings called by the princeps; IV Clause: power of commendatio and suffragatio of the princeps; V Clause: power to extend the pomerium; VI Clause: right and power to implement whatever the prince finds useful for the res publica; VII Clause: it provides that Vespasian is exonerated from the laws; VIII Clause: it sanctions the validity of the acts made by Vespasian or by others under his command, before the approval of the lex de imperio; The law ends with the sanctio, a typical part of all the republican laws and from which the Italian term sanzione derives (but its modern meaning is different from the old one). In fact, the sanctio had the function to protect those who violated the old laws to abide the new one. The so-called clause with precedents (I, II, V, VI, VII) when are named the emperors of the Gens Julia dynasty (Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius, Caligula and Nero are not mentioned because hit by the damnatio memoriae). - The clauses without precedents (III, IV, VIII), when only the name of Vespasian appears. In the epigraph we can distinguish two kinds of clauses: the ones with precedents and the ones without them, even if in reality some of the latter had some precedents (i.e. Clause III, concerning the legitimacy of the Senate meetings, had some precedents under Augustus). Every epigraph, both written or from some source, can be interpreted in many ways, mainly because we do not know which were the contemporary texts. For example, the meaning of the law of Vespasian would have had a different meaning if there were also other similar texts, but we have no knowledge about it so we can simply make hypotheses. Scholars do not agree on the implications of the law. According to historians, the clauses without precedents introduced new powers that the predecessors of Vespasian did not have. Such powers were related to the particular historical moment. Vespasian is acclaimed emperor after the longus et unus annus and he is homo novus, who does not belong to the Gens Julia and not even to the Roman nobilitas. On the contrary, jurists state that this law does not introduce any new power but simply regulates the effects of the acts of the princeps. The legitimacy of the meetings of the Senate summoned by the emperor and the habit of commendare and suffragationem dare (that is to offer electoral help to the candidates chosen by the emperor) are referred to, respectively, clauses III and IV and the ratification of the acts made by Vespasian before the coming into force of the lex de imperio, refer to already existing situations and powers, in some cases (clause IV), even in republican times. The three clauses have in common the fact that they regulate the effects of the acts done by the emperor. The students of IIIB are: Giovanni Brajato, Sara Breccia, Marco Buttò, Pierpaolo De Bonis, Alessandro De Iure, Michela Costanzo, Silvia Fiorucci, Pietro Grasso, Loffredo Sofia, Alex Daniel Ludena Cerro, Ciro Marinelli, Laura Melinelli, Francesca Moriconi, Nadia Pencheva, Matteo Petrucci, Edoardo Santoni, Francesca Speranza, Anna Tagliaferri, Andrea Trivellini, Marco Visconti. The teacher Mrs Daiana Fuccellara e Mr Galliano Maria Speri gave the opportunity to show the importance of this work in the Liceo Agios Giorgios Leoforos in Larnaca (Cyprus), during the cultural exchange among the students.