St. SABBAS

S. SABA
Piazza S. Saba/Piazza Gian Lorenzo Bernini 20

645, monastery dedicated to St. Sabbas (439/532), head of Eastern monasticism, founded by monks from the monastery of St. Sabbas in Judea, which had been occupied by the Muslims
It was built over ancient Roman structures, maybe the barracks of the IV Coorte dei Vigili (Fourth Cohort of the Firefighters Brigade)

According to tradition, this eventually became the site of the house of St. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory the Great (590/604)
The monks of the monastery, under the auspices of the popes, became promoters of a significant diplomatic activity and became a veritable link between East and West

In the year 768 here was imprisoned the antipope Constantine II. His eyes were gouged out, his tongue cut out, and then he was killed on the orders of Pope Stephen III (768/772)

Second phase of construction of the church in the eighth century

The PRESENT CHURCH was built in the first half of the twelfth century

The MONASTERY was assigned in the thirteenth century to the Monks of Cluny, then to the Regular Canons, to the Cistercians and finally was entrusted by Pope Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) to the Hungarian German College run by the Jesuits

Restoration in the years 1932/33, after years of decline

The body of St. Sabbas was returned to the hermitage of St. Sabbas in Palestine after the Second Vatican Council

PROTHYRUM
Remodeled in the thirteenth century

PORCH WITH GALLERY AND LOGGIA
1463 for Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, restored in the late eighteenth century by Pius VI Braschi (1775/99)

Ancient and medieval archaeological remains including:
Ancient “Fluted sarcophagus with dextrarum iunctio”
Relief with “Knight with falcon” of the eighth century

PORTAL
Marble frame 1205 by Jacopo di Lorenzo di Cosma (first half of the thirteenth century)
The paintings in the upper part were executed on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1575

FLOOR
1205 Jacopo di Lorenzo di Cosma. It was restored in 1907

14 COLUMNS TAKEN FROM ANCIENT ROMAN BUILDINGS

CIBORIUM, ALTAR AND CHAIR
Rebuilt at the beginning of the twentieth century with ancient pieces

APSE
Frescos “Christ between Sts. Andrew and Sabbas”, below “Mystic Lamb and lambs in lines”, “Virgin Mary and Child with the twelve apostles”, further below “Gregory XIII and saints canonized during the Jubilee of 1575” by anonymous painters of the late sixteenth century who perhaps remade in fresco the decoration that was previously in mosaic

Above the chair “Crucifixion” of the fourteenth century

FOURTH AISLE
On the left frescos “The Legend of St. Nicholas of Bari and the three spinsters”, “Pope enthroned between two saints”, “Virgin Mary between Sts. Andrew and Sabbas” end of 1200s/beginning of 1300s by the Master of St. Sabbas

CORRIDOR IN FRONT OF THE SACRISTY
Fragments of votive panels including “Faces of three monks” of the twelfth century

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS
In 1900 the remains of the so-called Oratory of St. Silvia were found under the church, including a small chapel in the north-west corner with remains of frescoes from the first half of the tenth century:

“Three panels with the anagram signing of one Sergius Pictor, another painted inscription with enigmatic meaning and the representation of one Martinus Monachus Magister”
“The perimeter walls of the ancient church are preserved today only to a height of about a meter and a half, having been reused as stylobates of the colonnades of the medieval church. The rest of the building was demolished and obliterated by the new constructions. Certain portions of masonry and a large number of fragments of painted plaster returned to light during the excavations, as they had been used in the foundation fill of the church, over which was laid the cosmatesque floor of the new foundation. The building, according to my reconstruction, starting from the late fourth-early fifth century was affected by seven decorative campaigns, identified on the basis of the mapping and analysis of the stratigraphy of the painted plaster” (Giulia Bordi - Opera · Nomina · Historiae 1-2009 - Journal of the artistic culture of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa)

AVENTINE HILL

AVENTINO

Piazza del Tempio di Diana

Southernmost hill of Rome, which originally had maybe the name of Mons Murcus and whose history has always been closely linked with that of the plebs, the lower social classes

According to tradition it was populated by the inhabitants of Ficana, Tellenae, Medullia and Politorium, cities that were conquered and destroyed by Anco Marcio the fourth legendary king of Rome

In 456 BC the Lex Icilia de Aventino Publicando handed it to the commoners so that they could build homes, after an earlier occupation by the patricians, which had triggered riots

Later it became a merchant district for the vicinity of the River Tiber, mainly frequented by foreigners. It was located outside the pomerium, the boundary of the sacred city of Rome (it came to be considered inside the pomerium only at the time of Claudius AD 41/54), although the Servian Wall encircled it since the sixth century BC

During the imperial period it became an aristocratic neighborhood and the poorest people moved to the plain further south where the Testaccio neighborhood is now

Among the houses known to be here there were those of the emperor Vitellius (69), of Licinius Sura and of his friend Trajan (98/117) before he became emperor

The neighborhood was severely damaged by the sack of Alaric in 410

Near the Parco degli Aranci there is a wall built at the beginning of 1200 last remains of the SAVELLI FORTRESS maybe built for Honorius III Savelli (1216/27): it was a medieval castle that was the property of the Savelli family for a long time

Under S. Prisca there is a MITHRAEUM with remarkable frescoes

DECIAN BATHS

AD 252 for Decius (249/251)

Restored under Constantius II (337/361) and in 414 after the sack of Alaric

The main building was 70 x 35 m (230 x 115 feet)

We know the plant from a drawing done by Andrea Palladio (1508/80)

They were built over older buildings from the period of Trajan and Hadrian; many rooms of these older buildings are kept up to the vault, some with decoration of the end the second century AD in the first style, one of the few examples in Rome. Maybe they were houses that used to belong to Decius over which he decided to erect his baths

SURA BATHS

Belonging to Licinius Sura, a friend of Trajan in the area west of S. Prisca under the current dance school

A fragment of the Severan marble plan of Rome, the Forma Urbis, identifies a republican temple (periptero sine postico) located to the west of the baths, maybededicated to the Moon, Consus or Vertumnus

TEMPLE BUILDINGS

Temples of plebeian character often tied to business functions:

CERES

CONSUS

LUNA

LIBERO e LIBERA, dedicated by Spurius Cassius in 493 BC

FLORA, on the Clivus Publicus, just like the temples of Cerere e Libero e Libera

MERCURIUS 495 BC, protector of merchants at the opposite end of the Circus Maximus

VENUS OSSEQUENTE, 295 BC

VENUS VERTICORDIA

LIBERTAS e IUPPITER LIBER, maybe two different names for the same temple

Temples of which we know the exact location:

DIANA, Greek type temple periptero ottastilo built by Servius Tullius (578/534) near S. Sabina maybe taking as a model the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It was rebuilt in 36 BC by Lucius Cornicius.

MINERVA, probably third century BC, north of the Temple of Diana

JUNO REGINA, under S. Sabina 

JUPITER DOLICHENUS, in Via S. Domenico east of S. Sabina, personification of a deity from the city of Dolico in Anatolia, nowadays Turkey

Hittite origin, he was venerated as a god of fertility and lightning. He was identified as Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrian religion

The cult was imported to Rome by the legions returning from war with the Mithraic religion spreading in Italy between the second and the third century AD. Just like Mithra, Jupiter Dolichenus was a mystery cult: it was believed that the god would propitiate success and safety of the military organization

The god was represented with an ax and a thunderbolt in hand