La sella tra Arx e Capitolium: da luogo di passaggio ad area monumentale
In: Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma: 121, 2020
DOI: 10.48255/BCAR.CXXI.2020.001
This paper focuses on some topographical features of the Capitoline hill in the Roman Republican period, as assessed during the restoration of the monumental compound of Tabularium/Palazzo Senatorio in the 80s. These aspects could not be immediately perceived and are the result of subsequent studies and elaborations. Following a summary of the geomorphological features of the hill, the results of the archaeological investigations carried out in a foundation compartment of the Tabularium and in via del Campidoglio are exhibited. With regard to the latter, the author analyzes the possibility that an ancient pathway crossed the hill, possibly even earlier than the clivus Capitolinus and used as an alternative course. The author presents the suggestive hypothesis that Silla’s building occupied a more extensive surface than previously supposed. This possibility, suggested by the evidence found, derives from the acknowledgement of the above mentioned street, whose route could have been partially incorporated – and reproduced – by the building itself. Based on the analysis of the remains of the ancient building and their articulation, the author discusses the possibility that the compound included workshops in the lower floors, open towards the Forum and to the NE, and gathering and transit spaces in the upper floor, open towards the temple of Veiovis and centered in a tripartite porticus with access from both the Capitolium and the Arx. The reading of three inscriptions once present in the compound, correctly located and interpreted, also contributes to clarify the different construction phases of the building. Such phases are finally compared with those of the restoration of the nearby temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, carried out in the same years by Q. Lutatius Catulus.