POLLING STATION OF JULIUS CAESAR

SAEPTA IULIA
Via dei Cestari/Via del Gesù

26 BC. Giant square of 310 x 120 m (1,017 x 394 feet)

Designed by Julius Caesar (100/44 BC) but finished by his son-in-law Agrippa (about 63/12 BC) and dedicated to the memory of the dictator

It was the place for the elections with the south appendix, DIRIBITORIUM, used for counting. It was divided by wooden partitions to facilitate the electoral process

Here ended the arches of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct

On the long sides of the square, two porticos were named from the works of art kept in them:
To the west (side of the Pantheon, corresponding to Via dei Cestari) the PORTICO OF THE ARGONAUTS
To the east (side of the Temple of Isis, corresponding to Via del Gesù) the PORTICO OF MELEAGER

Roman citizens were divided into groups and the majority was figured out not per heads but per groups which could be small groups if consisting of rich people and very large groups if consisting of poor people

For the COMIZI TRIBUTI which elected the tribunes of the people, and promulgated almost all laws, citizens were divided into 35 groups called tribes, 4 inside and 31 outside of Rome

For the COMIZI CENTURIATI which elected the magistrates, decide on matters of war and peace and of death sentences, the citizens were divided into 193 groups called centurias from five different classes differentiated by wealth

80 centurias belonged to the first class and 20 centurias to the second class representing together the absolute majority (at least 97), making useless the vote of the other three classes that often then didn’t even bother to vote, as the first class was the first to cast its vote, followed by the second and so on

Therefore the Roman Republic, as well as Sparta and Athens and the Greek cities, rather than being a democracy was a TIMOCRACY, which is a republic formally participatory, but where the political class became such in virtue of the wealth of its members. The situation is actually not much different to the majority of so-called Western “democracies” today

“Military service was exclusively for the richest, who also obtained the largest political rights; (...) The vote was no longer per head, as had been established by Romulus; rather the differences were established so that no one seemed to have been excluded from the vote, but also so that all authority resided in wealthier citizens” (Livy)
From August onwards the Saepta Iulia were only a monumental square, which was used primarily as a place for shows or as a market for antiques and works of art

VATICAN MUSEUMS - PIUS CLEMENTINUS MUSEUM - Gallery of the Busts

Galleria dei Busti

 

Made under Clement XIV Ganganelli (1769/74) by combining four rooms of the Palace of Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) with arches on columns

ROOM I

In the vault panels with “Figures and two peacocks” maybe by Piermatteo Lauro di Manfredo aka Piermatteo d'Amelia (1446-48/about 1506) the author of the blue sky with stars on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, covered by Michelangelo's masterpiece

From the right up “Caracalla” about 212

“It expresses all the pathos and drama of the new absolutist conception of power, to which is no stranger the way of representation of the Hellenistic dynasties, notably that of Alexander the Great. Designed for this purpose are the twisting of the head and the strong tendency of expression. (...) We are seeing a shift away from equilibrium and expression of austerity, that the classical language gave to the face of the sovereign, replaced by a desire for immediate and instinctive expression of energy, almost transcendent” (Simona Fortunella/Gianluca Grassigli - TMG)

“Young Octavian” end of first century BC maybe from Ostia, the only existing portrait of young Octavian later to become Augustus

The identification however is not certain and some scholars identify it as a portrait of one of the two grandchildren and adopted sons of Augustus, Gaius Caesar and Lucius

They were sons of Augustus' daughter Julia, later disowned, and Agrippa

This portrait had a huge success which is testified by the large amount of modern copies produced particularly in the nineteenth century

“Julius Caesar” about 25 BC one of the most beautiful portraits of Caesar, very realistic with wrinkles and sunken cheeks

Despite the veracity of the work, adhering to the stylistic features of Roman art, it remains nevertheless a clear idealized expression, following the common Greek style appropriate to the regime's propaganda

“The model for the creation of this portrait, repeats some of the known patterns in the representation of the Hellenistic rulers: very similar, for example, is the portrait of Antiochus III of Syria, called the Great (late third century BC). The portrait of Caesar is associated with the so-called type II of the portraits of Caesar, also called, on the basis of this and another example in Pisa, “Chiaramonti-Pisa Cemetery type”. This model - which has both realistic tones and a clear idealization - seems to be a replica of a posthumous portrait of the dictator, a “piece of art propaganda” presumably created in the early years of the principate of Augustus” (Giandomenico Spinola)

ROOM II

Vault as in Room I

“Saturn” from original of the end of the fifth or early fourth century BC

“Head of a Warrior” school of Pergamum, from a votive offering of King Attalus

“Menelaus” from the group of Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus, maybe similar to the famous Pasquino

In the middle of the room “Rectangular base with neo-Attic reliefs” with the visit of Dionysus to Icarius, Eros and Thanatos burning one soul (in the form of a butterfly) and country scenes with Hercules and a goddess

ROOM III

Ceiling “Allegories of the Four Seasons” by Cristoforo Unterberger (1732/98)

In the niche seated statue of “Zeus aka Verospi” end of the third century or early fourth century AD. It is called Verospi because it used to be kept in the Verospi Palace

It is a copy of the cult statue of Capitoline Jupiter and it was found near the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls

The statue of Jupiter Capitolinus was chryselephantine (made of gold and ivory) and it was destroyed by fire in 85 BC. The next statue had the same fate as it went up in flames in 69 AD

“Celestial globe with zodiac and stars”

SMALL ROOM IV

“Mask of Jupiter Ammon” from the original of the early fourth century BC

“Woman praying aka Mercy” maybe Augustus' wife Livia

“Head of Juno” from an original of the fifth century BC

In the lunette over the passage “Fresco with singers” of the 1400s