ID AND LOCATION
| Stanford #
| 499 |
| AG1980 #
| 499 |
| PM1960 #
| 499 |
| Slab #
| V-12 |
| Adjoins
| none |
CONDITION
| Located
| true |
| 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 The surface of the fragment is quite damaged, perhaps by heat (Rodríguez-Almeida 1991b, p. 35). At the center is an external staircase, narrowing toward the top of the fragment. The staircase consists of groups of steps--at least three in the bottom group, five in the central group, at least two in the topmost group--separated by flatter areas without steps. At left, two lines divide the area beyond the staircase into three parts; these may be rooms or a second flight of the staircase farther downhill (Rodríguez-Almeida 1991b, p. 35). At right, a double line runs along the side of the staircase. Beyond the double line, a horizontal line of columns is indicated by small squares, with a single line along their top edge marking one side of a podium. These are standard elements of the depiction of temples on the Plan. E. Rodríguez-Almeida first noticed the traces of a recessed and outlined cella wall running alongside the staircase from the bottom of the fragment to the podium edge, then turning 90 degrees to run horizontally just below the line of columns. The lack of columns along the staircase side suggests that this was the back wall of a peripteral, sine postico temple that faced inward onto the plateau (E. Rodríguez-Almeida 1991b, pp. 35-36).
Identification: A temple on the Capitolium, perhaps the aedes Fidei E. Rodríguez-Almeida (1991b and 1993) positioned the fragment on slab V-12 on the basis of the smooth back and details of the veining, and has accordingly proposed that it be referred to as 31kk. The incisions, so similar to those on frs. 31a, 31b and
31c, further confirm that this fragment depicts a staircase on the SW slopes of the Capitoline and a temple on the plateau of the hill. Peripteral sine postico temples are characteristically Republican in date; Rodríguez-Almeida argues further that the depiction of the columns provides a good indication of the intercolumniation and other proportions (though it should be noted that it is not certain that this form of highlighted temple architecture was depicted to scale; see Reynolds 1996, pp. 74-82). The fragment's location on the Capitoline and the shape and nature of the temple can perhaps be associated with columns and other architectural remains found in the area of S. Omobono, brought down from above by landslides. These remains include a colossal female head; Rodríguez-Almeida argues that there are only four possible candidates for a temple to a female divinity matching these architectural criteria, and that among these the Temple of Fides is the best match (Rodríguez-Almeida 1991b, pp. 34-40 and 1993, pp. 35-37; see also LTUR II: Fides Populi Romani/Publica (C. Reusser), pp. 249-252).
Identification: Centum gradus? Fragments 31a, 31b and 31c were positioned on this slab by L. Cozza on the basis of the thickness of the slab, the vein in the marble, and fr. 31a's position at the edge of slab (PM 1960, p. 91). Given this position on the Plan, these fragments must represent a complex of ramps and stairs on the SW slope of the Capitoline. It has been argued that this is the centum gradus (one hundred steps), which was located below the Tarpeian Rock (Tac. Hist. 3.71; PM 1960, p. 91). However, this identification depends on the Tarpeian Rock having been at the SW corner of the Capitoline; given the ancient evidence that the Rock overlooked the Forum, this is not at all certain (T. P. Wiseman, LTUR I, pp. 237-238). The double lines that separate the two flights of stairs and that border the upper flight are retaining walls rising up from each flight. At the bottom of the hill, this system of stairs and ramps surely led to one of the gates in the Republican walls, but it is not certain which one. (E. Rodriguez-Almeida suggests that this was the archaic Porta Carmentalis: LTUR I, p. 259). It will have formed an important passageway between the Capitoline and the markets and monuments below, including the Forum Holitorium, the Circus Flaminius and its surrounding victory temples, the Theater of Marcellus, and the riverfront.
Significance These fragments of the Forma Urbis--31a, 31b, 31c and 499--are unique evidence for the ancient organization of this portion of the Capitoline. The fragments contribute valuable information about the relationship and movement between the Capitoline and the important sector of the city just below its southwestern slopes. These fragments also provide our only surviving evidence for three otherwise unknown temples on the Capitoline, one of which may be the Temple of Fides. |
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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 family's 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 fragment's 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 and Jennifer Trimble |
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| KEYWORDS
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| temple, steps, cella, stairs, ramp, Capitoline, columns, podium, |
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