The Archaeological Box on the Aventine Hill

[Elisa]

This is not exactly news as the so-called Archaeological Box on the Aventine Hill has opened its doors to visitors on the 7th of May (excavations on the site started in 2014), but not that many people seem to know about it so I'm posting this here.

https://www.scatolaarcheologica.it/en/

 

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The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity in this area dates back to the time of Rome’s foundation in the 8th century BCE. Between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE a tufa block wall – possibly belonging to a watchtower – was incorporated into the fortifications whose monumental remains are still visible today in both Piazza Albania and Via di Sant’Anselmo. Subsequent building activity at the end of the 3rd century BCE, raised the floor level yielding a soil fill rich with pottery sherds of that period. In the middle of the 2nd century BCE a domus (Latin for “house”) began to take shape within a massive opus incertum structure (small, irregular blocks inserted into thick mortar to create a crude masonry surface on a rubble or concrete wall), signaling a shift in the use of this area, from military to residential.

The domus’ living spaces have been identified, as well as those sections that served the purpose of storing food and accommodating hydraulic systems for the disposal of water. Continuous building renovations, instigated by successive generations of owners over the course of more than two centuries – from the 1st century BCE to the 2nd century CE – are documented by six superimposed floor levels reflecting the owners’ wealth, who were likely involved in the commercial activities of the Emporium (ancient Rome’s port located adjacent to the Aventine Hill) along the Tiber River. These transformations seem in part connected to the instability of the subsoil, through which quarries passed for the extraction of tufa rock and pozzolana for building purposes. Another extraordinary discovery entails a secondary wall with painted decoration and made with a clay core, the latter is a building technique rarely documented in Rome.

An inscribed mosaic fragment dating back to the Trajan era (98-117CE) reveals the once semi-public nature of a space that was specifically reserved for members of a collegium (literally a “society”, any association with a legal status). Later under the reign of Hadrian (117-138CE), black and white mosaic decoration with geometric patterns was added, whereas during the Antonine period (150-175CE), in four contiguous rooms mosaics in geometric or vegetal motifs were enriched by squares in polychrome tiles, depicting a parrot with multicolored feathers and a kantharos (a type of ancient Greek drinking cup) from which vine shoots laden with leaves and bunches of grapes emerge.

For the enhancement of this extraordinary complex, the Special Superintendency of Rome, with funding provided by BNP Paribas Real Estate, has created an “archaeological box”, an architectural environment in which the wall and floor structures have been relocated and repositioned alongside the other layers brought to light in the excavation process. The evocative multimedia reconstructions of Paco Lanciano and the voice of Piero Angela greet the visitors on this exciting journey into the past.

 

[caesar novus]

I like the subdued colors, which would be easier to live with than Pompeiian red etc. Does anyone have photos from a tour of Nero's golden house? It was opened with such little publicity that I must have missed it twice.

[Novosedoff]

Elisa,

May I ask you here in this thread about something unrelated to Aventine hill of Rome, but which is not so far away from it and which should be familiar to you as a native of the city with interests in history and good knowledge of it? If nobody minds.. 🙂

We've had a short discussion here about the roots of Roman Christianity

I mentioned the famous St Pudenziana church of Rome in the above thread. The church is built in the place which used to be called Alta Semita. There is a paper by well-known German historian Werner Eck, according to which the majority of senatorial houses would be built on Alta Semita (see attached). As far as I remember in today's Rome the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Statistical Committee are situated just next to St Pudenziana. Am I right assuming that the tradition of such neighborhood may have taken its roots from older times? What administrative buildings of political significance used to be built in that area, where the church resides, in the past? I mean if you know anything about that particular area of Rome ..

[Elisa]

On 12/21/2021 at 7:56 PM, caesar novus said:

I like the subdued colors, which would be easier to live with than Pompeiian red etc. Does anyone have photos from a tour of Nero's golden house? It was opened with such little publicity that I must have missed it twice.

Indeed!
I'm planning a visit to the Domus Aurea in the spring and I'll be more than happy to post pictures!I'm looking forward to it as you can also experience a reconstruction of the Villa with augmented reality goggles.

 

Quote

May I ask you here in this thread about something unrelated to Aventine hill of Rome, but which is not so far away from it and which should be familiar to you as a native of the city with interests in history and good knowledge of it? If nobody minds.. 🙂

We've had a short discussion here about the roots of Roman Christianity

I mentioned the famous St Pudenziana church of Rome in the above thread. The church is built in the place which used to be called Alta Semita. There is a paper by well-known German historian Werner Eck, according to which the majority of senatorial houses would be built on Alta Semita (see attached). As far as I remember in today's Rome the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Statistical Committee are situated just next to St Pudenziana. Am I right assuming that the tradition of such neighborhood may have taken its roots from older times? What administrative buildings of political significance used to be built in that area, where the church resides, in the past? I mean if you know anything about that particular area of Rome ..

Sure, very interesting! As far as I know Alta Semita was indeed a wealthy residential area in Republican times, and also during the Imperial period. I am no archaeologist but I remember reading that the 3rd cohort of the Vigiles in ancient Rome was located roughly in today's Piazza dei Cinquecento, so not exactly where the Vigili del Fuoco's HQ is located today (Via Genova). They are actually a part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Castra Praetoria were located between the Viminal Hill and the Esquiline, and the Central Logistics Grouping of the Italian Army (Caserma "Castro Pretorio") is still there, so there is definitely some continuity with its ancient past!

As far as Santa Pudenziana is concerned, I wonder if there are any archaeologists reading this who could help shed some light on its past. Apparently the thesis according to which the church had been built over a thermal complex is now being questioned, in favour of the original one claiming that the church had been built on the domus of senator Pudens.

[Novosedoff]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:45 PM, Elisa said:

Indeed!
I'm planning a visit to the Domus Aurea in the spring and I'll be more than happy to post pictures!I'm looking forward to it as you can also experience a reconstruction of the Villa with augmented reality goggles.

 

Sure, very interesting! As far as I know Alta Semita was indeed a wealthy residential area in Republican times, and also during the Imperial period. I am no archaeologist but I remember reading that the 3rd cohort of the Vigiles in ancient Rome was located roughly in today's Piazza dei Cinquecento, so not exactly where the Vigili del Fuoco's HQ is located today (Via Genova). They are actually a part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Castra Praetoria were located between the Viminal Hill and the Esquiline, and the Central Logistics Grouping of the Italian Army (Caserma "Castro Pretorio") is still there, so there is definitely some continuity with its ancient past!

As far as Santa Pudenziana is concerned, I wonder if there are any archaeologists reading this who could help shed some light on its past. Apparently the thesis according to which the church had been built over a thermal complex is now being questioned, in favour of the original one claiming that the church had been built on the domus of senator Pudens.

Very interesting indeed. Thank you.

It is very natural to assume that the place where the majority of senatorial houses reside would be well guarded, so the proximity of Castra praetoria and its famous elite Praetorian Guards seems to fit in the picture neatly.

The Roman poet Martial wrote an epigram dedicated to a person called Pudens who is commonly identified as senator's son Aulus Pudens (check out XXXI. TO APOLLO, OF ENCOLPUS from the below link

https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book01.htm

Martial mentions Pudens' plans to become the chief centurion or Primus Pilus as it used to be called back then. We know from history that

Quote

During the Roman Empire, emperor Claudius created the office of primus pilus iterum. 

This officer would be a former tribune in the vigiles, cohortes urbanae, or Praetorian Guard.

So this actually explains why Pudens would be most comfortable at his work duties if his work place was just next to his father's house.

Here is a post about Pudens in someone's blog which readers from Britain may find particularly interesting
https://kennethharperfinton.me/2017/09/28/of-claudia-and-pudens/

Claudia and Pudens son called Linus is actually mentioned in St Pauls' letter to Timothy between the names of his parents (though some'd say Linus could have been adopted by Pudens). Linus was to become effectively the first Roman Pope after St. Peter.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Novosedoff

[Elisa]

22 hours ago, Novosedoff said:

Very interesting indeed. Thank you.

It is very natural to assume that the place where the majority of senatorial houses reside would be well guarded, so the proximity of Castra praetoria and its famous elite Praetorian Guards seems to fit in the picture neatly.

The Roman poet Martial wrote an epigram dedicated to a person called Pudens who is commonly identified as senator's son Aulus Pudens (check out XXXI. TO APOLLO, OF ENCOLPUS from the below link https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book01.htm). Martial mentions Pudens' plans to become the chief centurion or Primus Pilus as it used to be called back then. We know from history that

So this actually explains why Pudens would be most comfortable at his work duties if his work place was just next to his father's house.

Here is a post about Pudens in someone's blog which readers from Britain may find particularly interesting
https://kennethharperfinton.me/2017/09/28/of-claudia-and-pudens/

Claudia and Pudens son called Linus is actually mentioned in St Pauls' letter to Timothy between the names of his parents (though some'd say Linus could have been adopted by Pudens). Linus was to become effectively the first Roman Pope after St. Peter.

I can't seem to be able to read the epigram (it says "page not found"), will look for it, thanks!

What you wrote makes perfect sense, the interesting thing I remember reading though is that the presence of the Castra Praetoria actually drove some of the wealthy residents of the area away (apparently they didn't want to be too close to them!).

Edited December 24, 2021 by Elisa

[Novosedoff]

2 hours ago, Elisa said:

I can't seem to be able to read the epigram (it says "page not found"), will look for it, thanks!

Oops. My apologies. I think an extra bracket got attached at the end. Here is the correct link:

https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book01.htm

[Novosedoff]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:45 PM, Elisa said:

The Castra Praetoria were located between the Viminal Hill and the Esquiline, and the Central Logistics Grouping of the Italian Army (Caserma "Castro Pretorio") is still there, so there is definitely some continuity with its ancient past!

 

I've just skimmed through some reading. It appears that during the imperial period the Praetorians initially guarded the Augustus' house on the Palatine, but once Tiberius succeeded Augustus the Praetorians were put under the command of Sejanus, who stationed them in Rome in a newly built camp nearby Alta Semita (Tiberius himself mostly lived outside Rome). The camp apparently rose to become later the Castra Praetoria.  Sejanus, of course, was effectively the chief military commander during the reign of Tiberius and also the person who approved Pontius Pilate for prefectship of Judea. The number of Praetorians at that time is estimated to be between 6,000 and 9,000 men. So if Aulus Pudens was to become one of 60-90 Praetorian centurions, then it's very likely that the place of his service would be in Rome, just next to his father's senatorial house. The Pudens family is known to run the business of baths in the district of Alta Semita, which was quite natural place for such business given the distance from Tiber river and the high concentration of senatorial houses in the area (Baths were also a good place to collect intellegence by eavesdropping of the senatorial conversations, while Praetorians are known to be acting as secret police sometimes). 

 

As a silver spoon kid Aulus probably completed his "cursus honorum" in Rome and as a younger commander could have crossed his path not only with Sejanus himself, but possibly with Pontius Pilate as well (Pilate is known to have equastrian rank and military background before becoming the military governor of Judea).  Besides the possible brief acquaintance with Pudens in the years of his military service,   Pontius Pilate possibly had one or two of his relatives from the same Pontia gens serving as life-time Roman senators, of whom one was known by the name Pontius Fregellanus.  Unfortunately, Fregellanus was deprived from the senatorial ranks later by Tiberius for meddling in the treason of Sejanus. This happened about the same time when Pontius Pilate himself was removed from the office of governor of Judea (which does not only emphasize the possibility of their kinship, but  also casts some shadows on the further career prospects of Pilate).

 

Pontius Pilate is likely to have spent his last years in Spanish Catalunia after his removal from power, although some would even claim that Pilate was forced to commit suicide. Yury Vyazemsky, who hosts the famous Russian TV show for A-level students hopeful to study the international relations for their careers, has actually written a couple of books about the childhood years of Pontius Pilate, claiming that Pilate grew up in Spain as a kid. But the content of his writing is mostly fictional with very little to no evidence to support it. 

 

Nonetheless the very fact that a Roman senatorial family embraced the new religion of remote Judea, helped to establish the very first Christian church in their own home in Rome and even made one of their family members (Linus) to lead the church of uncircumcised as a Roman pope is quite remarkable because the Catholic church, which Pudens founded, effectively oversaw the creation and initial censorship of all written early Chiristian works that would survive and be known to us today (clearly, by the time the first Christian church of uncircumcised popped up in Rome in the 1st century AD there had been already a number of Jewish synagogues in Rome for about a century or perhaps longer)

Edited January 1, 2022 by Novosedoff