ROSTRA AUGUSTI
the rostra of the imperial period, situated at the north-
west end of the forum. Caesar had decided on their removal, but his
definite plan seems not to have been carried out, or at least the dedication
not to have taken place until after 42 B.C. (Cass.
Dio xliii. 49; cf.
Diod.
xii. 26; Ascon. ad Mil. 12).
1 If we consider the point at which Caesar's
body was burnt, it will seem natural that Mark Antony's oration should
have been delivered at the opposite end of the forum (cf. Senec. Dial.
iii. I. 3:
a rostris usque ad arcum Fabianum to express the whole length
of the forum). Augustus completed them (Pomponius,
Dig. i. 2. 2)
and he is represented seated on the rostra in a coin (Cohen, Aug. 529
=BM. Aug. 115=HC p. 75, fig. 32). A funeral oration in honour of
Augustus was delivered from this rostra by Drusus (Suet. Aug. 100,
where it is called vetera in contradistinction to the Rostra aedis divi lulii).
Cassius Dio describes two magnificent ceremonies which took place
on the rostra, the reception of Tiridates by Nero and the funeral ceremony
of Pertinax (lvi. 34;
lxxxiv. 3); cf. also Fronto ad
Antonin. i. 2, p. 98,
Nab.; Mamertin. genethl. Maximian. 19; Prudentius,
Peristeph. xi. 45;
Aur. Victor, epit. 19.
We know of the existence of statues in rostris of Augustus (Tac.
Ann.
iv. 67), where he speaks of the rostra elliptically '
celeberrimo fori,' just
as the old rostra had been called
oculatissimus locus; and even Ammianus
Marcellinus (xvi. 10. 13) calls it
perspectissimum priscae potentiae locum;
Claudius Gothicus (Hist. Aug. Claud. 3), and Stilicho (CILvi. 1731 = 1195
2).
In a relief on the arch of Constantine (supra, p. 27) columns with statues
standing upon them are, as a fact, seen behind the rostra.
3
The existing remains of the rostra belong to four main periods: (1) that
of Caesar, the concrete core of whose rostra, 3.50 metres high, is preserved
for a length of over 13 metres, built against, and in all probability on
top of, the line of arches supporting the
CLIVUS CAPITOLINUS (q.v.).
(2) that of Augustus, who incorporated the core of the rostra of Caesar
in a larger and higher core, which served as the foundation for the curved
flight of steps on the west extending across the whole length of the
rostra, and forming a monumental approach to the platform itself.
The front of this enlarged core was faced with a wall of the finest Augustan
brickwork; and a wall faced with the same material is to be found in the
foundations of the north side of the platform itself, and possibly in the
front also. The platform extended 10 metres forward from the western
brick wall, and its front was about 24 metres in length and 3 high. The
front and side walls are built of opus quadratum of tufa, faced with
marble; bronze beaks in two rows were let into this facing. These
walls have been restored by Boni up to their original height. The
travertine paving slabs of the platform were supported by beams of
the same material resting on these walls and on three rows of travertine
piers, which were in later times partly replaced and partly strengthened
by brick piers and walls. A marble balustrade extended along the sides
and front, in the centre of which there was an opening.
The theory outlined above is confirmed by an interesting detail.
The plans of the central area of the forum (HC p. 139, fig. 69; ZA p. 83,
fig. 18) omit two more ' pozzi rituali ' of the line in the right bottom
portion, which take it down as far as the front of the original rostra of
Caesar. When the rostra were enlarged by Augustus, these two last
pozzi, together with the first shown in the plan, were suppressed, and a
new line created, which ran along the front of the new facade. (According
to the theory previously current, it was to Trajan that the rectangular
platform should be attributed.)
(3) that of Septimius Severus, in connection with the erection of
whose arch most of the north wall of the rostra was removed, the
north part of the back wall of brick-faced concrete cut down to the
level of the pavement, and the so-called hemicycle formed by cutting
back the brick-faced core of the steps for at least more than half its
length, so that its curve should correspond with that of the flight of
steps behind.
The northern half of the hemicycle was decorated with slabs of Porta
Santa marble, with pilasters of africano at intervals, and a plinth of
Pentelic marble, while a richly decorated curved cornice probably
belonged to a colonnade along the front of it (
Mitt. 1902, 18, fig. 3).
The work was not completed at the southern end. A small triangular
court was thus formed, from which steps led up to the platform (HC
p. 77, fig. 33); and this and the space under the rostra were paved
with tiles overlying an earlier pavement of herring-bone brickwork;
some of them bear stamps of the Severan period (
CIL xv. 405). According
to an older theory, now generally abandoned, the hemicycle was the
Graecostasis of the time of Caesar (Nichols, Notizie dei Rostri), while
Mau held it to be his rostra (
Mitt. 1905, 230-266; Richter, BRT ii.;
iv. ii; Delbrftck, Hellenist. Bauten, ii. 89;
BPW 1912, 1737).
(4) that of about 470 A.D. (?), when the rectangular part of the
rostra was lengthened by a trapezoidal brick addition at the north end,
the facade of which was also decorated with beaks. An inscription
which ran the whole length of the enlarged platform recorded a
restoration by the praefectus urbi, Junius Valentinus, in honour
of Leo and Anthemius (?), possibly after a naval victory over the
Vandals.
The two marble balustrades or plutei which now stand in the open
area of the forum near the column of Phocas are generally supposed to
have formed part of the rostra, standing either on each side of the approach
or at the ends of the platform (for the latter, see HC p. 74, fig. 31;
P1. p. 223, fig. 45). They were, as a fact, found where they now stand,
roughly erected on blocks of travertine (
Jord. i. 2, p. 219, pi. iv. fig. 3).
They date, according to one view,
4 from the time of Domitian (so Cantarelli
in
BC 1889, 99-113;
1900, 45;
1920, 169; cf. also SScR 138-142, 418);
but most authors refer them to Trajan,
5 and explain them as representing
Trajan's charity in providing for the support of poor children, by investment of large sums in mortgages on farms, and the destruction by his
orders of the registers of taxes on inheritances already due. They have
recently been assigned to the reign of Hadrian and attributed to the
enclosure of the
STATUA MARSYAE (q.v.) : see
Mel. 1927, 154-183.
To topographers they are interesting mainly for the representation
of the buildings of the forum in the background.
In the first relief (that facing down the forum) the emperor is seen
on the rostra in the foreground. Then comes the temple of Vespasian
(that of Concord was probably on the first section, which is lost), with six
Corinthian columns, then the temple of Saturn, with six Ionic columns,
and an arch of the Doric arcade of the Tabularium between them. Beyond
are the lower arcades of the basilica Iulia; while the statue of Marsyas
and a sacred fig-tree in an enclosure (both of which stood close by; see
STATUA MARSYAE,
FICUS,
OLEA,
VITIS) terminate the picture, as they
begin the representation on the second relief, serving obviously as a
point de repkre. After them comes a series of arcades, like those on the
first relief, representing the basilica Aemilia; then the Argiletum; then
the Curia with a broad flight of steps in front of it (after its restoration
by Domitian), wrongly represented as having a facade of five columns;
and finally a triumphal arch, probably situated on the clivus Argentarius,
with the rostra in the foreground once more. The recurrence both of the
rostra and of the Marsyas shows that the two reliefs were intended to
form a complete circle; while the temple of Caesar and the temple of
Castor and Pollux, which are not represented, are precisely those which
the speaker would have had before his eyes. It is also to be noticed
that the reliefs on the other (outer) side of each pluteus, representing
the sheep, swine, and bull, the animals sacrificed in the suovetaurilia,
are on quite a different scale, and easily visible from the level of the
forum; whereas the reliefs on the inner side are on a much smaller scale,
and only visible from close by (
AJA 1901, 58-82;
Mitt. 1889, 239-240;
1897, 326; Petersen in Abh. A. v. Oettingen gewidmet
(1898), 130-143;
HC 97-102; ZA 75-76). The relief of the suovetaurilia was imitated
on the base of a column erected close by to commemorate the decennalia of Diocletian (
CIL vi. 1204), for the reliefs of which see
AJA 1914,
146-155; SScR 317, 318; HC 95, 96.
The theory that the reliefs belonged to a monument erected in honour
of Trajan and represent only the buildings on the east side of the forum
is due to a misinterpretation of a passage of Pliny (Panegyr. 36; cf.
BPW 1906, 221;
CR 1906, 132); while, according to another theory,
this monument stood near the tribunal praetoris, and the reliefs represent
the buildings on the west side of the forum (
AJA 1910, 310-317).
For the rostra in general, see
Jord. i. 2. 229 sqq.; Nichols, Notizie
dei Rostri
(Rome 1885); Richter, Rem. Rednerbfihne 8-39; Jahrb.
d.
Inst. 1889, 1-7; BRT ii.; HC 70-77;
Mitt. 1895, 59;
1889, 238;
1902, 13-21;
1905, 15-28, 230-266;
1906, 57-63;
AJA 1909, 170-186;
RE i. A. 450 sqq.;
CR 1899, 235; DR 359-38 ; HFP 22-25.