ID AND LOCATION
| Stanford #
| 258 |
| AG1980 #
| 258 |
| PM1960 #
| 258 |
| Slab #
| unknown |
| Adjoins
| none |
CONDITION
| Located
| false |
| Incised
| true |
| Surviving
| true |
| Subfragments
| 1 |
| Plaster Parts
| 0 |
| Back Surface
| smooth |
| Slab Edges
| 0 |
| Clamp Holes
| 0 |
| Tassello
| no |
TECHNICAL INFO
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| ANALYSIS
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| Description A vertical row of rooms traverses the fragment on the left. N.B. Three rooms are clearly visible in the color photo, but only two are included in AG 1980, pl. 44. At some distance from the front of the rooms, and parallel to them, lies a colonnade of which only two columns are visible.
Identification The fragment either depicts a colonnaded sidewalk in front of a row of tabernae, or rooms facing an interior, colonnaded courtyard. However, covered sidewalks are generally rendered with a dashed line -- suggesting an arcade -- as opposed to a dotted line for a colonnade. This, and the wide intercolumniations of the colonnade, may indicate that the fragment depicted a colonnaded courtyard.
Significance Colonnaded courtyards seemed to have been a common part of the Roman cityscape; many are seen on the Marble Plan. These would have provided shade and shelter, and also a place of relaxation and recreation away from the crowded streets of the noisy city. |
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| HISTORY OF FRAGMENT |
| Like the majority of FUR fragments, this piece was discovered in 1562 in a garden behind the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian. From here, it was transferred to the Palazzo Farnese and stored there. The fragment was later used as building material in the 17th c. construction of the Farnese familys Giardino Segreto (Secret Garden) near the Via Giulia, and was rediscovered in 1888 or 1898 when the walls of the garden were demolished. Since then, it has been stored with the other known FUR fragments in various places: the storerooms of the Commissione Archeologica (1888/1898-1903), the Antiquarium Comunale (1924-1939), the Capitoline Museums (1939-1955), the Palazzo Braschi (1955-1998), and since 1998 in the Museo della Civiltà Romana in EUR under the auspices of the Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali del Comune di Roma. (This fragments history corresponds to Iter E as summarized in PM 1960, p. 56.) N.B. PM 1960 does not reveal the whereabouts of the fragment between 1903 and 1924.
Text by Tina Najbjerg
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| KEYWORDS
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| rooms, tabernae, colonnade, courtyard |
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