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[German version] Erected in 144-140 BC by praetor urbanus Q. Marcius Rex who had been commissioned by the Senate to repair the Aqua Appia and Anio Vetus (Plin. HN 36, 121; Frontin. Aq. 7). It brought the coolest and purest water of all Roman city aqueducts right to the Capitol (Plin. HN 31, 41;  Roma;  Water supply). Repairs were carried out in 33 BC by Agrippa, in 11-4 BC by Augustus (Frontin. Aq. 9; 125), AD 79 Titus (CIL 6, 1246), by Hadrian, in 196 by Septimius Severus (CIL 6, 1247) and 212/13 Carac…

[German version] Common designation for the basilica on the north-east corner of the  Forum Romanum in Rome; it was first known also as  Basilica Fulvia (Varro, Ling. lat. 6, 4) or Basilica Aemilia et Fulvia (Liv. 40, 51, 5), and from 55 BC on it was called  Basilica Paulli as well (Plut. Caes. 29). The designation of Basilica Aemilia (BA) is a result of the increased number of building projects by the gens Aemilia (78, 54, 34, 14 BC, also in AD 22). The differences in scholarly opinion about this building are rooted in the different views on the building activities of L.  Aem…

[German version] General term for the hills Cispius and Oppius in  Rome (Varro, Ling. 5,49). Here was the end of the plateau that extended to the Anio; and from it important aqueducts (Anio vetus 270 BC, Aqua Marcia 144 BC, Aqua Claudia and Anio novus AD 52) led into the city. The Anio novus that was incorporated into the Porta Maggiore is particularly impressive. A hasty and exhaustive redevelopment started in 1870/71 caused large-scale exposure and destruction, with which the documentation process could not keep pace; as a result, the considerable number o…

[German version] Part of the   campus Martius in Rome; according to the Constantinian regionaries, it was located in regio VII to the right of the via Flaminia and north of the aqua Virgo; originally belonging to Agrippa, it was given to the Roman people by Augustus in 7 BC (Cass. Dio 55,8). According to one of the fragments of the acta fratrum Arvalium from AD 38, it was also the location of the Tiberian ara Providentiae. Förtsch, Reinhard (Cologne) Bibliography F. Coarelli, in: LTUR 1, 217 Richardson, 64.

[German version] Basilica in the city of Rome, mentioned in Constantine's time (cur. register VIII), also designated as basilica vascularia (CIL 9, 3821) on an inscription; the name probably stems from silver merchants who resided there ( argentarii vascularii; schol. Hor. Epist. 1, 1, 53). The Basilica Argentaria (BA) connected the south-western exedra of the Forum of Trajan to the Forum of Caesar, whose north-western hall formed a continuation of the BA on higher ground level following two sets of stairs. The naves of the BA were orientated along the halls of the Forum of …

[German version] (Field of Mars). Tract of land in Rome, shaped like an irregular quadrangle, between the Palazzo Venezia, S. Carlo al Corso, the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele, and the Piazza Cairoli. According to legend, with the foundation of the Republic, the campus Martius (CM) passed from Tarquinian (Dion. Hal. 5,13,2) to public ownership (Liv. 2,5,2; Plut. Poblicola 8,1). The level terrain, not fragmented by private property, was predestined for monumental architecture for public or representative purposes, as in Strabo's (5,3,8). desc…

[German version] Non-built-up district in Rome, regio VIII, in the south of the Forum Boarium near the northern foothills of the capitol. According to a widespread tradition (Varro, Ling. 5, 157; Liv. 4, 16, 1; Cic. Dom. 101; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 12, 4; Val. Max. 6, 3, 1; Quint. Inst. 3, 7, 20), the house of the rich grain merchant Sp. Maelius was demolished here in 432 BC by order of the senate because he was said to have aspired to kingship. Förtsch, Reinhard (Cologne) Bibliography Richardson, 3 G. Pisani Sartorio, in: LTUR 1, 21.

[German version] (Basilica Nova; Basilica of Maxentius). The Basilica Constantiniana (BC) in Rome was begun by Maxentius and completed by Constantine (Aur. Vict. Caes. 40, 26), and is reminiscent of early republican local tradition in the area of the Velia. The base area of 100 × 65 m is dominated by a nave measuring 80 × 25 m. The middle aisle can be entered through five doors from a low entrance hall on the eastern narrow side and it ends in a western apse containing an acrolithic statue of seat…

[German version] The invention of the cloacae (Str. 5,8; Plin. HN 36,24) is stressed in ancient literature as one of the greatest achievements of civilization; Pliny (HN 36,105) ascribes it to  Tarquinius Priscus, others (Liv. 1,38,6; 1,56,2; Dion. Hal. 3,67,5; 4,44,1) to  Tarquinius Superbus. The edifice designated in Roman literature as Cloaca maxima (CM) (Liv. 1,56,2; Varro, Ling. 5,157) has not been located with certainty, but is generally identified which the largest sewage canal in Rome, preserv…

[German version] In the period of his reign before the great fire of AD 64, which was followed by the building of the   domus aurea , Nero combined the horti Maecenatis on the Esquiline ( Esquiliae) with the palatial buildings on the Palatine ( Mons Palatinus) (Suet. Nero 31; Tac. Ann. 15,39). Preserved are a building section of the domus Tiberiana, walls at the sunken peristyle as well as under the aula regia and the cenatio Iovis of the later Flavian palace. The affinity of an elaborate vaulted hall in the terraces of the Hadrianic temple of Venus and Roma by the Vel…

[German version] Two Roman municipal districts, separated by the murus terreus Carinarum, a part of the pre-Servian wall which still existed in Varro's times (Varro Ling. 5,48), between Esquiline and Palatine. As part of the Augustan reorganization, both districts were jointly assigned to regio IV (Templum Pacis); the origin of the name is disputed (Serv. Aen. 8,351; Hor. Epist. 1,7,48). The district was the most desirable residential area for the Roman nobility; it was said that, even in Archaic times,  T…

[German version] The term relates to a precinct of the city of Rome between the Sacra Via and the Nova Via, south and east of the Temple of Vesta, and not solely to the residence of the Vestal virgins (Plin. Ep. 7,19,2; Gell. NA 1,12,9; Serv. Aen. 7,153f.). Early structural remains, probably of small huts from the 7th and 6th cents. BC, are possibly associated with a votive deposit to the Vestals from the 2nd half of the 6th cent. At the end of the 3rd cent. BC a wall was built to separate the Atr…

[German version] I. Capitol Hill in Rome, consisting of a summit called C. in the south (46 m) and the Arx in the north (49 m), linked by the depression of the asylum. Until Trajan's forum was built, the C. was the south-western spur of the Quirinal and linked with it by a bridge. From archaic times, buildings on the C. had to have very deep foundations because of unfavourable geological conditions; in addition, since ancient times, there have been landslides, terracing (in the 15th and 16th cents.), as well as other substa…

[German version] [1] Hill in Rome Hill in Rome, c. 2 km long, 400-500 m high. Although Caelius Mons (CM) is counted amongst the oldest of the city's hills (Dion. Hal. 2,50,1; Tac. Ann. 4,56; 11,24), its largest part was outside the   pomerium . Even though graves were still sited there in the Republican age, the area later developed into a fashionable residential district (Cic. Off. 3,16,66; Plin. HN 36,48; Tac. Ann. 4,64); in the Imperial Age, when the slopes of the Esquilin and the Colosseum were built up with insulae, the fashionable district moved to the upper part of the hill. …

This item can be found on the following maps: Sparta | Theatre | Christianity | Doric Migration | Dark Ages | Hellenistic states | Achaeans, Achaea | Colonization | Apollo | Macedonia, Macedones | Natural catastrophes | Persian Wars | Punic Wars | Athletes | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Σπάρτη/ Spártē, Doric Σπάρτα/ Spárta). I. Political history [German version] A. Archaic period City in Laconica on the middle reaches of the Eurotas; originally four villages (Cynosura [3], Limnae, Pitana/Pitane, Mesoa), which developed from settlements of D…

A. Military camp [German version] [I 1] General The Roman soldiers always made sure that they were protected by fortifications. This also applied when they only stopped for a night on campaigns. In the evening of their arrival the field camp had to be set up and destroyed again on the morning of departure. The plural castra was the name given to any kind of military camp, the singular castrum certainly existed but was not used in mil. vocabulary. Castellum is the diminutive form of castra (Veg. Mil. 3,8) and also had a civilian meaning. The origin of the Roman camps is uncertain; because …