PALATINE HILL - PALATINE HILL MUSEUM (first part)

MUSEO PALATINO

Part of the Museo Nazionale Romano which is made out of five different museums in five different locations. The other four are Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, Museo delle Terme and Crypta Balbi

 

Ground Floor - Palatine Hill from Origins to the Republican Period

ROOM I

The prehistory of the hill (from 100,000 years ago to the end of the second millennium BC). From the Middle Paleolithic to the Bronze Age with stable settlements from 1200 BC

ROOMS II - III

The early history of the hill (X/VII century BC), huts of the Iron Age and burials

Models of the significant settlement of huts on the Palatine Hill in the ninth century BC

ROOM IV

The Archaic and Republican period (VI/I century BC). Cultural complexes and private houses

“Antefix polychrome with head of woman”

“Bearded head in polychrome pottery”

“Fragment of terracotta head maybe of Dionysus”

 

First Floor - Palatine Hill in the Imperial Period

ROOM V

Augustan Age (27 BC/14). The sanctuary of Apollo of Actium and decorative theme in celebration of the Principality

“Fragments of head and one foot of the colossal statue of Apollo” by Skopas

“Fragment of the Face of Late Archaic statue of Athena”

“Fragment of the Palatine Palladium” original Greek of the sixth century BC

The Palladium was a statue that, according to the beliefs of antiquity, was capable of defending an entire city. The most famous was kept at Troy, and in fact the city was destroyed when Ulysses and Diomedes succeeded in stealing it

According to Virgil, Ulysses and Diomedes did not steal the Palladium, but it was Aeneas who brought it with him to Italy and there it stayed only to be eventually kept in the Temple of Vesta

“Three herms of canephorae in black ancient marble” from the porch of the Temple of Apollo

The canephorae were maidens who carried sacred objects of worship in baskets held deftly balanced on their heads

“Campana Slab” 36/28 BC architectural terracottas from the Temple of Apollo

Their name recalls that of the Marquis Giampietro Campana who, in the first half of 1800s, had gathered a rich collection of these particular kind of terracottas

“Fragments of frescoes” from the House of Augustus, one with “Apollo Citaredo”

ROOM VI

Age of Nero (54/68) - The Domus Transitoria (temporary house) and new decorative conception

“Inlaid marble panels” in opus sectile from the Domus Transitoria

Opus sectile is one of the more refined and prestigious techniques of marble ornamentation, both for the marbles used often very valuable and for implementation difficulties

Marble is cut into very thin sheets known as crustae and shaped with great precision, using the most different qualities of marble to obtain the desired color effects

Painted decorations with “Trojan Cycle of Ulysses” from the Domus Transitoria

ROOM VII

From the Julio-Claudian emperors to the Tetrarchy (284/312). Official portraiture and decoration of the Palace

“Two heads of Nero (54/68)”

“In the portraits of Nero, best known from coins emissions, it seems possible to distinguish three stylistically different periods due to his different political behavior. In the portrait of the Palatine, chronologically be placed in the middle years of the reign, the realism of some facial features is tempered by the apparent softness of the marble, the search for effects of light and pathos. This style heralds the stage of absolute rule of the emperor in which we witness, at the level of artistic language, the final affirmation of the Baroque and pictorial trend of the Hellenistic tradition, already in embryo in the figurative culture of Claudius” (Simona Fortunelli)

“Two pieces of the floor in opus sectile (inlaid marble)” of the Neronian period from the Domus Tiberiana

“Bust of Antoninus Pius (138/161)”

“He ruled with wisdom and righteousness, animated by paternal solicitude for the welfare of all. He eased the tax system, he was generous with donations, he founded charities, including one in favor of orphan girls. Respectful of official religion, however, he was not too intransigent toward Christians and Jews. To his wife Faustina he erected a temple on the Via Sacra. Under his reign raids by Mauri in Africa and Brigantes in Britain were easily tackled: here it was established the famous 'Antonine Wall'“ (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Two heads of vestal virgins from a relief”

Beautiful “Head of a Young Princess” of the Antonine period

PALATINE HILL - DOMUS TIBERIANA

Domus Tiberiana

The first truly unified palace built by an emperor is maybe that of Tiberius (14/37)

The area was covered in the sixteenth century by the Farnese Gardens. It is largely uncharted

Perhaps Tiberius built it over his birthplace. It included a library

It was probably the seat of the designated successor of the emperor when he was still alive, as Tiberius was the successor of Augustus

We know with certainty that Marcus Aurelius (161/180) and Lucius Verus (161/169) lived here when they were adopted and designated as successors of Antoninus Pius (138/161)

It was used as a residence by Pope John VII (705/707)

PALATINE HILL - St. SEBASTIAN

S. Sebastiano

Known in the Middle Ages as S. Maria in Pallara from the Palladium of Troy, which was in the Temple of the Sun

The Palladium was a statue which, according to ancient beliefs, was able to defend an entire city

Rebuilt 1624/30 for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) by Luigi Arrigucci (1575/after 1643) retaining the original apse of the tenth century with traces of frescoes

COUNTER FAÇADE

Watercolors nineteenth-century copies of those of the seventeenth century, which were themselves copies of the destroyed medieval frescoes

Paintings in the PRESBYTERY and in the SPANDRELS

“God the Father and angels”, “Virtues”and “St. Sebastian” 1633/36 by Bernardino Gagliardi (1609/1660)

BEHIND THE MAIN ALTAR

Traces of “Frescoes with scenes of Christ” dating back to the end of the tenth century

ALTARPIECE ON THE LEFT WALL

“Martyrdom of St. Sebastian” 1633 by Andrea Camassei (1602/49) with the episode of the whipping that actually killed St. Sebastian and is rarely represented

The arrows with which he had previously been wounded in fact had not killed him

PALATINE HILL - AREA OF THE HOUSE OF AUGUSTUS (second part)

“AUGURATORIUM”
Shrine with simple plan and only two rooms with parts in opus reticulatum (reticulated work) of the Augustan period (27 BC/14), but almost entirely rebuilt in concrete covered with bricks by Hadrian (117/138)

Some scholars have mistakenly identified it with the Auguratorium, the place where the priests known as Auguri, in charge of forecasting the future, used to take the so called auspices before a major event, observing the flight of birds facing southeast

Instead, it is probably the SACELLO DI VICTORIA VIRGO (Shrine of Victoria Virgo) built in 193 BC by Marcus Cato Porcio next to the Temple of Victory

In the foundations an earlier archaic shrine was found, made out of big square blocks of “cappellaccio” stone, covered by a late-Republican concrete construction, probably corresponding to the ancient Sacello di Iuno Sospita (Shrine of Juno Sospita)

ROOMS BUILT IN CONCRETE AND BRICKS

Eighteen rooms in concrete covered with bricks dating around the age of Nero (54/68)

On the VAULTS there are remains of fresco paintings, unfortunately very damaged, dated around the third century AD

The numerous graffiti led to suppose that it was a sort of service areas, perhaps intended for guards

Here was found the beautiful statue of Charis now in the Palatine Museum

CISTERNS

Next to the House of Livia there are two circular tanks close together dating back to the archaic period

“LIVIA'S HOUSE”

House attributed to Livia, wife of Augustus, after the discovery of some lead pipes with the inscription Iulia Augusta

It was excavated in 1869 by Pietro Rosa for Napoleon III

The house is datable to the first century BC, but at least two different phases of construction have been recognized: 75/50 BC for the walls in opus reticulatum (concrete covered with bricks) and about 30 BC for the paintings

All rooms have remains of mosaic floors in simple black and white colors

The access to the dwelling, located at a lower level compared to the surrounding buildings, is down a HALLWAY with a black and white mosaic floor, which leads to a room known as ATRIUM with two pillars supporting the roof

It is more likely, however, that the true atrium was the so-called ROOM H where there are maybe elements of the impluvium (rectangular flat-bottomed tank to collect rainwater) surrounded by cubiculi (small bedrooms)

On the end side there are THREE ROOMS of which the central one is larger than the lateral ones, while on the right end side of the atrium there is maybe a triclinium with a fresco of landscape and an imageless symbol (betilo) of Diana

The TABLINUM in the center is the most important room from the pictorial point of view, even if the frescoes have faded, and it is difficult to clearly see the images

These paintings have been classified as belonging to an advanced stage of the second Pompeian style

The wall on the right is divided into three by a portico with Corinthian columns resting on high bases

The central aedicula depicts “Io, beloved by Jupiter, freed by Mercury from Argo's captivity”, a copy of a famous painting by Nikias. The girl sits at the foot of a column supporting a statue, while there are Argo on the right and Mercury on the left

On the wall on the left “Open window overlooking a busy city with various street scenes”

In the central panel of the wall “Nymph Galatea of the sea horse as she fled from Polyphemus”

In the HALL TO THE RIGHT OF THE TABLINUM still stands out the wall decoration on the left, in square panels, with festoons of leaves, flowers and fruits from which rural symbols hang

In the upper part there is a beautiful frieze on a yellow background, faded now, with “Scenes of Egyptian Life”

In the HALL TO THE LEFT OF THE TABLINUM walls are decorated with a system similar to the one of the other two rooms, with columns and pilasters on a lower part of fake marble, without any scene representing figures

BASIN

Great elliptical basin with internal steps. It is assumed that it was used as a vivarium or breeding ground for fish

PALATINE HILL - THE PRIVATE RESIDENCE OF THE EMPEROR - DOMUS AUGUSTANA

DOMUS AUGUSTANA

 Private residence of the emperor with small rooms alternated to spacious areas all arranged around the peristyle

The construction was based on two levels: an upper level at the same height of the Domus Flavia, and a lower one about 12 m (40 feet) below

The upper floor was arranged around a large peristyle colonnade in the center with a pool of water and a small temple on high podium at the center, maybe dedicated to Minerva

In one of the rooms around the peristyle there is the LOGGIA MATTEI with a set of columns

It was reduced to a room in 1595 when the owners, members of the Mattei family, had the ceiling built as a vault

The recently restored frescoes (about 1520) were reintegrated with the round zodiac signs returned by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, while the painted walls are preserved in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

At the bottom center of the peristyle is a fountain with pattern of peltae (small shields) facing each other

COLUMNATED EXEDRA

Façade of the Domus Augustana on the Circus Maximus, which was originally made out of a two-story colonnade to allow the emperor and his court to watch the races

“LIVIA’S BATHS”

It is in fact a complex of buildings related in part to Nero's Domus Transitoria (temporary house) and partly to the Domus Aurea (golden house)

Above the Domus Transitoria, destroyed by fire in AD 64, were laid the foundations of the Domus Aurea, never finished, that Domitian reused for its imperial palace

“PEDAGOGIUM”

Structure of the Domitian's period (81/96)

It was believed to be the school for the imperial servants (Pedagogium), which is, however, known to have been on the Celium Hill

The name comes from one of the graffiti of the Severan period visible in one of the rooms (“exit de paedagogio”)

One of the most famous graffiti is a crucifix with a donkey's head and Greek inscription: “Alexamenos worships (his) god”. Probably a very early mockery of the Christian religion

It was most likely the residence of the imperial pages

It was excavated in mid-1800s for Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, the owner of the area at the time

Double row of small rooms with mosaics and plastered along a peristyle arbitrarily rebuilt by Luigi Canina (1795/1856) using parts not belonging to the building

DOMUS PRAECONUM

Structure of the Septimius Severus' period (193/235)

In a room on the walls there are a number of male figures in natural size as well as a floor mosaic with a procession of eight men carrying a banner

It was therefore believed that this building was the Domus Praeconum, the seat of the college for the heralds

An inscription however identify it more convincingly as the Seat of Nuntii Circi, messengers of the circus