NOVA VIA
so called in distinction from the Sacra via, the second of the
two streets in Rome before the empire which were known as viae, and
itself of great antiquity (
Varro vi. 59:
quod vocabulum ei pervetustum
ut novae viae quae via iam diu vetus). It began at the north-east corner
of the Palatine, near the temple of Jupiter Stator, where it branched
off from the Sacra via, and ran along the north slope of the hill to its
north-west corner (
Liv. i. 41. 4:
ex superiore parte aedium per fenestras
in novam viam versus-habitabat enim rex (Tarquinius Priscus) ad Iovis
Statoris), between the aedes Vestae and the lucus Vestae (Cic. de div.
i.101 :
a luco Vestae qui a Palatii radice in novam viam devexus est).
At its beginning it was called summa nova via (
Solin. i. 24:
Tarquinius
Priscus ad Mugoniam portam supra summam novam viam (habitavit)),
and at the north-west corner of the hill, above the temple of Vesta,
infima nova via (
Gell. xvi. 17. 2:
araque ei (Aio Loquenti) statuta est
quae est infima nova via;
Liv. v. 32. 6:
in nova via ubi nunc sacellum
est supra aedem Vestae; 50.6; 52.1 ; Cic. de div. ii. 69;
Varro
v. 43:
unde escendebant, ad infimam novam viam locus sacellum
Velabrum).
Along this line, on the north side of the hill, the Nova via of the empire
has been excavated. Its pavement lies at 23.40 metres above sea-level
behind the atrium Vestae, and at 32.30 metres at its junction with the
clivus Palatinus. The earlier pavement has been found at least at one
point beneath the later (
NS 1882, 234-238, 413 ;
1884, 191;
CR 1905, 76;
AJA 1923, 392). It is possible that the original road was a little to the
north of the later, and that the successive enlargements of the atrium
Vestae and the building of the enormous substructures of the imperial
palace which now span the street changed its first line somewhat.
1 At
the north-west corner of the Palatine the straight line of the Nova via
is blocked completely by the large hall belonging to the complex of
buildings between the bibliotheca Augusti and the lacus Iuturnae (
Mitt.
1902, 73-74), but it is connected with the clivus Victoriae above and the
forum below by a flight of steps and an inclined way. It is evident,
therefore, that the construction of the temple of
AUGUSTUS (q.v.) and
the adjacent structures changed the conditions so completely that the
original course of the street beyond this point is only a matter of conjecture. We are told, however, that it ended in the Velabrum (
Varro
vi. 24:
in Velabro qua in novam viam exitur;
v. 43 loc. cit.;
v. 164:
alteram Romanulam ab Roma dictam quae habet gradus in nova via
(sic Scaliger; novalia, vulg.) ad Volupiae sacellum), and also that in Ovid's
time it was connected with the forum (Ov.
Fast. vi. 396:
qua nova
Romano nunc via iuncta foro est). There is no doubt that the original
street ran into the Velabrum (cf. however,
NS 1882, 234-238), near the
PORTA ROMANULA (q.v.), which is usually placed near the church of
S. Teodoro, although the relation between the Nova via and the clivus
Victoriae becomes thereby somewhat dubious. The connection with the
forum referred to by Ovid may have been effected by an inclined way
turning to the north. It has been suggested that the original road
followed the supposed line of the Palatine pomerium (Tac.
Ann. xii. 24）
on the north and west sides of the hill (
Hermes 1885, 428; HJ 37), but
this is very doubtful.
In Greek the Nova via appears as
ἡ καινὴ ὁδός(Plut. Cam. 14; defort.
Rom. 5), and Festus cautions against an incorrect, but evidently common,
pronunciation of the name (293:
disiuncte . . . ut ne novamviam quidem
sed novam viam).
(Pais, Ancient Legends 273-274;
Gilb. ii. 114-117;
iii. 422-423;
Thed. 173, 356;
AJA 1923, 384 sqq.; ZA 103; Mem. Am.
Acad. v. 121.)
