DOMUS ON THE CELIAN HILL
by Alessandra Pignotti
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DOMUS ON THE CELIAN HILL
Domus of Celian down below the Basilica of
Ss. Giovanni e Paolo
Introduction The Roman houses situated on the Caelian Hill area are a magnificent example of an original architectonical solution of tree Roman structures dated back to the second century A.D. and they were transformed into a colonnade building(as the actual palaces) with a shop built at the same level of the street. During the fourth century A.D. the building became a Patrician house and the beautiful well-preserved decorations date back to this period. The last transformation is datable fourth century A.D. 1 when S.S. John and Paul were martyrzed and in this period was created the Confessio, a rectangular niche, with the first floor raised up and decorated with some Christian frescoes. During the third century A.D., these different properties were combined under a single owner and transformed into an elegant aristocratic pagan house characterized by rooms finely-decorated. The wonderful basilica was created in the V century A.D, realized by Pammachius, a Roman senator,(the titulus Pammachii or Basilica of SS. Giovanni e Paolo); now it stands over a magnificent residential complex comprising several Roman buildings of different periods. According to the popular tradition, this was the dwelling of John and Paul, officers at the court of the Emperor Constantine (312-37), having both suffered martyrdom by execution during the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), 2 were buried on the site of their own house. (?) In 1887, Padre Germano, a Passionist brother, excavating beneath the church, uncovered a fascinating site comprising more than twenty rooms, some of which were richly decorated with paintings dating from the third to the twelfth centuries. The sequence of decorated rooms and the maze of stratified structures cut through by the foundations of the church; reveal aspects of Roman daily life with an interesting blend of cultural themes. This monument originated in a variety of building types including an insula or apartment block for artisans, and a wealthy domus, which was subsequently converted into an early Christian church. Together to the Roman ruins, now is created in the complex, over the Roman level of excavations, one part dedicated to the archeological finds about the site. This section is an Antiquarium. The Vicus Scauri: The topographic context 1
Recent researches have changed the interpretation of the site: the images of martyrdoms could be connected to a private cult of relics not recognized, lost after the abandoning or the leaving of the domus by owner and cause of the time; then, for some learners, it was created a new cult near to soldier saints(relics remained into the site) and a popular history, putting their death into their houses in the area of the basilica, strange fact cause of the public nature of a Roman martyrdom in front of State, in a tribunal. An other hypothesis reconstructs the reasons of the pictures to the transporting into the area of two relics of soldiers named Paul and john. by a private connected to two saints and after when he decided to build the church over his house, leaving the earth to the Vatican; the new basilica rose over the private structure of praying (the images niche) as a recognizing of the authorities of the private cult. The Church preserved in the time the dedication but were lost the reasons( the cult in the area, the building, the history of the transforming till the Christian Phase and the basilica birth ). The unique reason known is the strange and mysterious atmosphere during the time of the Pagan and Christian Cult in the Celian Hill comprised the basilica site. It’s a area with a high level of utilization clear aspect for an ambitious quarter like this . 2 See footnote 1.
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Clivo di Scauro towards S. Gregorio al Celio (left) and towards Villa Mattei (right) or Villa Celimontana The narrow street which goes down to S. Gregorio is flanked on the left by old walls of Roman buildings. The arches were added in the XIII century A.D. to better support the church, with the exception of the highest one which dates back to the V century. Clivo means slope whereas Scauro is probably a reference to the Aemilii Scauri, an ancient Roman family. On the South side of the slope of the hill is possible getting on the Clivus Scauri, a street covered by arches of middle age architectures. Walking trough this street is possible to have a sensation of flashbacks. In this street there’s the lateral face of the basilica of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, set on the first floor of Roman buildings. The building of the church is dated on the V A..D.; down below it there were discovered different structures pertinent the Roman Time, about over 20 rooms built on various levels in the site with walls from the I A.D. (some fragments), Domitien age to the high middle age with a very complex stratification of eras on different deeps vs. the actual level street. The Roman Houses are situated on the Celio hill (Monte Celio), known to classic scholars as the Caelian Hill, an attractive area which contains several other sights of interest, as well as a park - Villa Celimontana This area near to Coliseum is full of historical Evidences; the Celian Hill was an impressive site during the Roman period, fact confirmed by archaeological discoveries, materials and architectural monuments. The actual situation is strictly limited to some archaeological ruins covered by earth materials or successive buildings or visible beneath wall fragments, topographical tracks or place name in the quarter.(for example the name of the street connected to an owner or the founder of the street, doubtless noble).
The stratigraphic context: the historical phases of the walls For having a better vision and reconstruction of the Roman buildings watch the following plants.
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Plant 1:The dates of the Walls Flaivian Age (81-96 A.D. .) Domus Hadrian era II secolo A.D.).Domus+Insula Serverian age (193-235 A.D.)Domus Resturations Later III sec. A.D.. – Inizi IV sec. A.D. Great Domus Later IV sec. A.D.. – Early V sec. A.D. Early Christian buildings
Plant 2: Plan of the underground rooms Phase I [A+B]=Domus +Insula Phase II [M]=Domus III d.C. Phase III [P]=Confessio Phase IV [Q]=Basilica di Pammachio Phase V [S]=Oratorio del Santissimo Salvatore VIII d..C.
3 Plant Ricostruction of the Roman rests
4 Plant of the site
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5 Plant Facade of the insular block apartment
Below the Basilica of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo: The Titulus Pammachii and the varius interpretations The basilica of SS. Giovanni e Paolo is located on the west slope of the Celian Hill; it’s an impressive church. Traditionally the church of SS Giovanni e Paolo stands on the site of the dwelling of the two saints, John and Paul, who were Roman military officers put to death for their Christian faith. Later the property is believed to have 3 belonged to a Christian senator called Pammachius, who converted his house into a church. In the nineteenth century, an enterprising monk excavated underneath the church, and found a series of decorated rooms dating back to the third century. Archaeological investigations have assigned various dates to the remains here; which belong to different stages of the site's development. Once a number of humbler dwellings and shops stood here, before the buildings were incorporated into a more sumptuous domus, whose frescoed walls can still be seen.(III –IV A.D.) Like the more famous Domus Aurea, the rooms here are now underground, and it gives us rise to imagine the spaces as they were before they were covered by later buildings. The wall-paintings, however, are a vivid reminder of past times. Ranging from imitations of marble painted on stucco to elaborate arrangements of flowers and garlanded animals. The Antiquarium houses lays out archaeological finds from the houses and the church, including some of the early Christian art that was later removed to make way for new fashions. There is also a collection of Islamic pottery – interestingly; there’re colourful plates which once decorated the church's medieval bell tower (later replaced by copies). Just past SS Giovanni e Paolo, a small doorway in the wall under the buttressing is the entrance to the Celio's Case Romane - Roman houses. A series of rooms complete with frescoes remains underneath the present church. The tour is like a labyrinth where are visible different periods mixed or crossed in the same space bringing us to confuse the rests. On the West side of the Celian Hill near to the Colosseum and to Palatines, in a limited zone are preserved numerous churches of great importance S.Gregorio, S.Maria in Domnica, S.Stefano Rotondo and the Basilica of SS.Giovanni e Paolo The Roman buildings are principally preserved under the right nave of the basilica; other are covering the spaces under the monumental dedication to the tomb of the saints in analysis. Accurate investigations were made during the XIX and XX Centuries A.D. down the church until the last investigations connected to its of 2002 when were finally restored all parts and opened again to the public the archaeological site. The excavations are yet in progress and other spaces are discovered, but some aren’t ready for the opening to the visits.(under the actual level of the Roman materials back to the Domithien level street and flooring and near to the rooms that is possible to visit. The remains actually comprise a large building complex of which the earliest structures belong to I A.D. and to II A.D. of each; these consist of insulae or block apartments and shops, the façade of which is included in the southern wall of the church. An other structure of this complex, now included in the foundation area of the basilica, is in the north oriental part of the underground rooms nave: a domus the base of the transforming of the buildings into Aristocratic rooms. The architectural structures are yet investigated by archaeologists for the functional aspect of each ones; the mystery isn’t resolved because of the walls under the basilica some are seen as the rest a domus and other of 3
See footnote 2.
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block apartments meanwhile the rest of the law ancient time are confused or mixed( a domus in the site of the 2 different residential systems(aristocratic for the rich domus and intensive for the insula). The 2 building are diverged in the beginning, then changed aspect and use, but is not easy to connect them to a unique domus or more buildings of the same kind; It’s so difficult for the learners reconstruct all the phases of the Roman context and it singular function. For prof. Brenk, the insula (visible in the church façade in VIcus Scauri side) became a unique big and luxurious domus; this hypothesis could be confirmed by the continuity given by frescos of the rooms made in one phase(about IV century A.D) with the same understood ideology of luxury and well being of this Aristocratic owner and his family. The brickworks of the restoring of the insula and domus are dated all in a phase, the same of the paintings (IV A.D.); all of it is useful for underlining the position dressed by B. Brenk. The titulus was in part used until to the XII century A.D. tighter to the progressive phases of the Christian cult; the site named confessio cause of the kind of images in frescos preserved remained accessible until this century when a small entrance stairway in the southern wall of the church was blocked up. For Prof. Guidobaldi, the case of employment of the titulus into spaces mixed of domus and insula is achieved by the neighbourhood and then fusion with those rooms. Cecchelli studies underline the reutilization of the façade of the insula for the left nave of the church destroying the first upper floor (great moving of earth and architectural materials). The Frescos: the decoration of the wall Domus of Celian are ever on the centre of the studies for their wonderful but mysterious frescos; the principal fact is connected to the firsts archaeological investigations and their Christian descriptions of the images rapresented into “Prayer Room” (a praying female figure) like a female Christian and the Confessioas the martyrdom of the two eponymous saints to the church also if there’5 martyrs three and two in two different level of narration of mixed sex with the cloths of the law ancient period ( IV A.D.). The frescoes preserved are principally dated on the IV A.D. but are preserved also examples in fragments of the Flavian Age. The later ancient decoration are one Female Prayer, a Confessio, a Great scene of mythologic figures Proserpine, Peithò and Hades or Venus and Arianna with Baccus in a sea location and a room with Genius and one with animal and season. Beautiful are the images with a bull connected to an oriental cult, imitations of marble and figure in an other room without a precise feeling to a philosophical or religious elements. There‘re only decorative elements that make an allusion to the dreams, desires, or other ideas of the owner. The last restoring brought to the light a new vision and interpretation of the images helped by the photo – correcting of the frescos. Its could be the expression of an high society that underlined their religious and philosophical directions and their ambitions, desires and wishes of well being and luxury to the future in front of the society and the power.
Photo before the correcting
Photo after the correcting
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Frescos researches
The decorated rooms –Frescoes
The decoration of the flooring: mosaics and marbles There’re preserved three kinds of flooring decoration, dated on the law ancient period to the same era of the frescos and of the converting in domus: 1) Mosaics (in some part) 2) Marble for Opus Sectile (“Season Room”) 3) Opus scutulatum like the mosaics but with irregular materials and of reutilization( Nimpheus). All the flooring decorations are unique and are a documentation of the new aesthetic tradition connected to varietas and the idea of division and intellectual atmosphere.
The Antiquarium: the little museum of the domus of Celian Together to the Roman ruins, now is created in the complex, over the Roman level of excavations, one part dedicated to the archeological finds about the site. This section is an Antiquarium. There are preserved a series of excavation materials; there’re :
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1)Earthenware, Ceramics pertinent the pottery used since the Roman time to the middle Age 2) Glasses of Roman history 3) Materials of the church 4)other objects found in the site. The materials are going back to the Roman Time the most ancient fragments belong to the I A.D. during the Flavian Age the most recent are from the Xii Century to the restoring phases of the basilica. Some of them are very impressive for the reconstructions of the commercial activities in the Roman Empire or of the Middle Age; the great number of ceramics from the oriental provinces and sites are index of the development of the traffics without stop since the Roman Eras to the Middle ones. This museum is an interesting lay out of the collections from the discoveries and the history of the church; it’s an idea of laying out of a museum near the site of excavations; it creates a splendid making in context of the Roman building and their abandoning phases with the birth of a new life of this part of Rome. The visit to the finds is possible with the admittance to the Domus, beneath a doorway realized by Archaeologists in Clivus Scauri street, nave side of the basilica. Conclusion Domus of Celian are inhabited quarters of the Ancient Rome; its as a lot of structures below the modern level present a labyrinth of walls and rooms understood only by specialist. One building is clear, the great domus with frescos of the Law Ancient period; some researches report a unique domus created on the spaces of an insula other two or more domus in place of insula near to an insula with a courtyard and other domus –insula not definite in the walls towards Villa Mattei. The great mystery is the birth of the official Christian cult in the place of one private cult of unknown relic transported away when the domus became a church, with a foundation or a present to the Church of a new cult place. The case for the learners isn’t yet closed. About the fascinating decorations of the floors and of the walls the unique interpretation valid and shared by all the critic and learners is connected to the Patrician status and the well being and ambition meaning of the images, leaving the religious and strictly cultural functions of the frescos. This site is a uniqueness discovery in a interior Roman quarter, not very far from the great monuments; also they communicate a long past, but it doesn’t give us only the idea of the power and glory remained in the Roman monuments. Domus on Celian are a mirror of the progressive past into a Rome Quarter. Publications: -AAVV., Case romane e Antiquarium sotto la basilica dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo al Celio. Roma, 2004 -BRENK B., Die Christianisierung der spätrömischen Welt, Wiesbaden 2003 -BRENK B., La cristianizzazione della Domus dei Valeri sul Celio , in The Transformations of “Urbs Roma” in Late Antiquity , pp. 69-84. -BRENK B., L'anno 410 e il suo effetto sull'arte chiesastica a Roma, in Ecclesiae Urbis, II, pp.1007-1010. - BRENK B., Le costruzioni sotto la chiesa dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo , in Aurea Roma , pp.154-158, Roma 2001 -BRENK B., Microstoria sotto la chiesa dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo: la cristianizzazione di una casa privata, in Rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, 18 (1995), pp. 169-205. -CARMELO CALCI ,Roma Archeologica., ADN Kronos Libri. Roma, 2005 - CECCHELLI TRINCI M., Osservazioni sul complesso della “domus” Celimontana dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo, in Atti del IX Congresso internazionale di archeologia cristiana, I, (Roma 1975), Città del Vaticano 1978, pp. 551- 562. - CECCHELLI TRINCI M , Serie riviste Forma Urbis (n 12) Dic . Tascabili:Il complesso dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Roma 1997 - DUNFORD M., Series archaeological guide, Rome, pp. 88-89, 2000 - ENSOLI S. - LA ROCCA E., Aurea Roma. Dalla città pagana alla città cristiana- (Catalogo della mostra Roma 2000), Roma 2000. -PORTELLA I.D., in Underground Rome, SS. Jhon and Paul , pp. 136-139, Verona 2002 - C. SOLVETTI,Serie rivista Forma Urbis n 12 Dic. L'Antiquarium comunale del Celio, Roma 1996 -WEBB M.,” The churches and catacombs of early Christian Rome”,pp 101- 104, Brighton 2001
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