Transcriber’s Notes

Superscripts are indicated as ^{x}, e.g., C^{14}. Italics are indicated by underscores. Other Notes will be found at the end of this eBook.

THE MUTE STONES SPEAK

THE STORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN ITALY

PAUL MacKENDRICK

ST MARTIN’S PRESS · NEW YORK

TO MY WIFE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book owes much to many: to the Trustees of the American Academy in Rome, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Research Committee of the University of Wisconsin Graduate School, for giving me the opportunity to spend three years in Italy; to Laurance and Isabel Roberts, for hospitality and moral support; to Axel Boëthius, for friendship and instruction; to Ernest Nash, for photographs and advice; to Mrs. Inez Longobardi, the best and most helpful of librarians and friends; to Ferdinando Castagnoli, for sharing with me his incomparable knowledge of the topography of Rome and Latium; to R. I. W. Westgate and Alston Chase, who taught me Latin at Harvard and have been my friends for thirty years; to the staff of the St. Martin’s Press: Diane Wheeler-Nicholson, and Fred J. Royar, for giving the book so handsome a dress; especially to my colleague J. P. Heironimus, for meticulous proofreading which saved me from much error; and to Frank E. Brown, who introduced me to archaeology and is hereby absolved from responsibility for all untoward results of the introduction. My overarching debt is acknowledged in the dedication.

CONTENTS

1. Prehistoric Italy 1

Neolithic sites in Puglia--The terremare--Sardinian nuraghi-- The early Iron Age: Villanovan and Siculan cultures

2. The Etruscans 25

Introduction--Origins--Etruscan cities--Political organization-- Language--Religion--Creative arts--Life and customs

3. Early Rome 62

The Palatine hut--The Forum necropolis--Rome of the Kings--The “Servian” Wall--The Largo Argentina temples

4. Roman Colonies in Italy 91

Ostia--Alba Fucens--Cosa--Centuriation--Exploiting a frontier

5. Nabobs as Builders: Sulla, Pompey, Caesar 116

The Sanctuary of Fortune at Praeneste--Pompey’s Theater and Portico--Caesar’s Forum

6. Augustus: Buildings as Propaganda 145

Augustus’ Forum--The Arch of Augustus--The Mausoleum--The Altar of Peace

7. Hypocrite, Madman, Fool, and Knave 172

The Cave “of Tiberius” at Sperlonga--The ships of Lake Nemi--The subterranean basilica at the Porta Maggiore--Nero’s Golden House

8. The Victims of Vesuvius 196

Introduction--Pompeii’s town plan--Public life--Private life in town and country houses--Trade and tradesmen--Religion--Art

9. Flavian Rome 224

The Forum of Peace--The Coliseum--The Arch of Titus--The Cancelleria reliefs--The Forum Transitorium--Domitian’s palace and stadium

10. Trajan: Port, Forum, Market, Column 251

Ostia: its town plan--Municipal life and amenities--Insulae-- The harbor--Trade--Religion; Rome: Trajan’s Forum, Market, and Column

11. An Emperor-Architect: Hadrian 273

The Villa near Tivoli--The “Teatro Marittimo”--The Temple of Venus and Rome--The Pantheon--The Piazza d’Oro--Hadrian’s Mausoleum--The Canopus--The end of an era

12. Roman Engineering 298

Roads--The Baths of Caracalla and Pennsylvania Station-- Aqueducts--Aurelian’s Wall

13. Caesar and Christ 327

The Imperial Villa at Piazza Armerina: its plan and mosaics--The Vatican cemetery and the shrine of St. Peter

Bibliography 352

Index of Proper Names 361

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

1.1 4 Prehistoric sites in Italy (map)

1.2 5 Passo di Corvo, a prehistoric site in Puglia: air photograph

1.3 5 Dimini, a late Neolithic site in Thessaly, plan

1.4 5 Altheim, a late Neolithic site near Munich, plan

1.5 9 Comparative table of early cultures

1.6 9 Terramara at Castellazzo di Fontanellato, Pigorini’s plan

1.7 12 Su Nuraxi, a Sardinian nuraghe

1.8 12 Cremating and inhumating peoples of prehistoric Italy: map

1.9 21 Villanovan artifacts

1.10 21 A hut-urn

1.11 23 The Certosa situla

1.12 23 Picene tomb-furniture from Fabriano

1.13 23 The Warrior of Capestrano

2.1 28 Lemnos, inscription in local dialect, similar to Etruscan

2.2 28 Vetulonia, Aules Feluskes stele

2.3 30 Early Italy, to illustrate Etruscan and other sites. Inset: early Rome (map)

2.4 31 Marzabotto, grid plan

2.5 34 Spina, plan

2.6 37 Spina, grid plan, air photograph

2.7 37 Vetulonia, fasces from the Tomb of the Lictor

2.8 39 Etruscan alphabet

2.9 39 Tarquinia, Tomb of Orcus, inscription

2.10 44 Piacenza, bronze model of sheep’s liver

2.11 45 Piacenza liver, schematic representation

2.12 46 Potentiometer profile, revealing tomb-chambers underground

2.13 49 Tarquinia, Tomb of Hunting and Fishing, fresco

2.14 49 Tarquinia, Tomb of Orcus, portrait of the lady Velcha

2.15 50 Tarquinia, Tomb of Orcus, the demon Charun

2.16 53 Veii, Apollo (terracotta) from Portonaccio temple

2.17 53 Satricum terracotta antefix, satyr and nymph

2.18 55 Tarquinia, Museum: winged horses (terracotta) from Ara della Regina

2.19 55 Cerveteri, Tomb of the Reliefs, interior

2.20 59 Cerveteri, gold pectoral from Regolini-Galassi Tomb

3.1 68 Rome, Palatine, prehistoric hut, reconstruction

3.2 68 Rome, Forum necropolis, cremation and inhumation graves

3.3 72 Rome, Forum, strata at Equus Domitiani, photograph

3.4 72 Rome, Forum, strata at Equus Domitiani, schematic drawing

3.5 76 Rome, Forum, Lapis Niger stele

3.6 76 Rome, Forum, Rostra, third phase

3.7 79 Rome, Forum, Rostra, fifth phase

3.8 81 Rome, Republican Forum, plan

3.9 87 Rome, “Servian” Wall at Termini Station

3.10 89 Rome, Largo Argentina, temples, plan

4.1 92 Roman colonization, map

4.2 93 Ostia, castrum, plan

4.3 96 Alba Fucens, plan

4.4 102 Cosa, arx, plan

4.5 103 Cosa, plan

4.6 106 Cosa, Capitolium

4.7 108 Cosa, Comitium, plan

4.8 110 Alba Fucens, centuriation

4.9 111 Cosa, centuriation

4.10 113 Paestum, Roman grid of streets: air photograph

5.1 119 Palestrina, Museum: Barberini mosaic

5.2 121 Palestrina, Sanctuary of Fortune, reconstruction

5.3 121 Palestrina, Sanctuary of Fortune, inclined column capitals

5.4 125 Palestrina, Sanctuary of Fortune, buttresses and ramp (model)

5.5 128 Palestrina, Sanctuary of Fortune, model

5.6 131 Kos, Sanctuary of Asclepius, reconstruction

5.7 131 Tarracina, view toward Circeii from Temple of Jupiter Anxur

5.8 133 Tarracina, Temple of Jupiter Anxur, reconstruction

5.9 135 Rome, Tabularium

5.10 136 Tivoli, Temple of Hercules Victor, reconstruction

5.11 139 Rome, Pompey’s theater and portico, from Forma Urbis

5.12 141 Rome, Via dei Fori Imperiali, being opened by Mussolini

5.13 141 Rome, Imperial Fora, plan

5.14 143 Rome, Forum of Caesar

6.1 147 Rome, Forum of Augustus, model

6.2 153 Rome, Forum: Arch of Augustus, reconstruction

6.3 155 Rome, Mausoleum of Augustus

6.4 155 Rome, Mausoleum of Augustus, plan and elevation

6.5 157 Family tree of the Julio-Claudians

6.6 159 Rome, Altar of Peace, plan of freezing apparatus

6.7 161 Rome, Altar of Peace, fragments known up to 1935, plan

6.8 161 Rome, Altar of Peace, results of Moretti’s excavation, plan

6.9 163 Rome, Altar of Peace, reconstruction

6.10 163 Rome, Altar of Peace: Augustus

6.11 166 Rome, Altar of Peace: family group of Julio-Claudians

6.12 166 Rome, Altar of Peace: Agrippa, Julia, and Livia (?)

6.13 169 Rome, Altar of Peace: Aeneas

6.14 169 Rome, Altar of Peace: Tellus or Italia

7.1 174 Sperlonga, Cave “of Tiberius”

7.2 174 Sperlonga, Cave “of Tiberius,” reconstruction

7.3 177 Sperlonga, Cave “of Tiberius,” archaic head of Athena

7.4 177 Nemi, Braschi finds (1895) from ships

7.5 180 Nemi, second ship exposed

7.6 180 Nemi, ship, elevation

7.7 180 Nemi, ship, imaginative reconstruction

7.8 183 Rome, subterranean basilica at Porta Maggiore

7.9 184 Rome, subterranean basilica, plan

7.10 186 Rome, subterranean basilica, apse

7.11 191 Rome, Golden House, west wing, plan

7.12 191 Rome, Golden House, east wing, plan

7.13 193 Rome, Golden House, reconstruction drawing of whole area

7.14 193 Rome, the Neronian Sacra Via, plan

8.1 197 Pompeii, victims of Vesuvius, from House of Cryptoporticus

8.2 199 Pompeii, air view

8.3 199 Pompeii, plan

8.4 203 Pompeii, House of the Moralist, plan

8.5 203 Pompeii, House of the Moralist, reconstruction

8.6 204 Pompeii, House of the Moralist, triclinium

8.7 206 Pompeii, Villa of the Mysteries, plan

The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy