ID AND LOCATION
| Stanford #
| 268 |
| AG1980 #
| 268 |
| PM1960 #
| 268 |
| Slab #
| unknown |
| Adjoins
| none |
CONDITION
| Located
| false |
| Incised
| true |
| Surviving
| true |
| Subfragments
| 1 |
| Plaster Parts
| 0 |
| Back Surface
| smooth |
| Slab Edges
| 1 |
| Clamp Holes
| 0 |
| Tassello
| no |
TECHNICAL INFO
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
- AG 1980, pl. 44
- PM 1960, p. 130, pl. 43
- LTUR IV: Stadium Domitiani (P. Virgili), pp. 341-343
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| ANALYSIS
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| Description The fragment was part of a slab edge. An irregularly drawn arcade curves gently towards the upper right. It is flanked on the left by what seems to be shop fronts; these follow the same curve as the arcade. On the right, another line of dashes, perhaps T-shaped piers or shop fronts, flanks the central arcade; this line also follows the curve of the arcade in center.
Identification The gentle curve of the architecture in this fragment is reminiscent of the shape of the sphendone of the Circus Maximus; frs. 7b and 7e show a section of the outer, S side of the Circus, which is rendered as a curved row of shop fronts, faced either with a curved dashed line or a line of T-shaped piers. Fr. 7e furthermore demonstrates that the tabernae that lined the street that surrounded the Circus, followed the curve of the building. Unfortunately, the slab edge of this fragment does not allow it to represent a section of the S end of the Circus Maximus. It may, however, depict the sphendone of some other entertainment building in Rome. The exact location and outline of the Stadium of Domitian (stadium Domitiani) in the Campus Martius is known (LTUR IV, pp. 341-42), and the direction of the slab edge of this fragment unfortunately does not allow it to be part of this particular building, which, thus far, has not been identified in any FUR fragment.
Significance If this fragment indeed represents a section of a sphendone, we have evidence for yet another of Rome's large monuments.
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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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| arcade, tabernae, sphendone |
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