TIBERIANA, DOMUS
* the palace erected by Tiberius on the north-west half
of the Palatine. It is first mentioned in the accounts of the assassination of Galba (Tac.
Hist. i. 27 (Otho) ... per Tiberianam domum in
Velabrum, inde ad miliarium aureum sub aede Saturni pergit, cf. iii. 84;
Suet. Otho 6; Vitell. 15
cum (Vitellius) ... incendium (on the Capitol)
eTiberiana prospiceret domo inter epulas; Plut. Galba 24), and must
have been destroyed, not in the fire of Nero, but in that of 80 A.D.
(Suet. Tit. 8; I-ieron. a. Abr. 2096), for we are told that Vespasian
ὀλίγα ἐν τῷ Παλατίῳ ᾤκει1
(which, if this palace, as well as the domus
Transitoria, had been destroyed, he could not have done at all),
and, as the construction and the brickstamps show, have been
rebuilt under Domitian. Remains of an earlier house, in opus
reticulatum, may be seen on the north side of the hill facing the
Capitol, in and under the later substructions.
Caligula extended the palace towards the north-east (Suet. Cal. 22:
partem Palatii ad Forum usque promovit, atque aede Castoris et
Pollucis in vestibulum transfigurata, consistens saepe inter fratres deos,
medium adorandum se adeuntibus exhibebat; cf. Cass.
Dio lix. 28;
Josephus xix. II (71) certainly refers to the
BASILICA IULIA (q.v.)),
and thus made it into so imposing an edifice as to excite Pliny's remark
bis vidimus urbem totam cingi domibus Gai et Neronis (NH xxxvi. III).
Of the remains of the original building of Tiberius we know practically nothing ; but scanty traces of the extension of Caligula down to
the temple of Castor and Pollux have been recognised in the course of
the latest excavations-a peristyle with a large open water-basin,
26 by 9 metres (in which a fragmentary inscription Ger]manici f. was
found, which has generally been referred to Caligula), in the centre,
situated behind the temple and orientated with the domus Tiberiana
-and higher up, of the reservoir, in three stories, by which it was
supplied with water. Of the stairs which must have connected
this vestibule with the palace on the hill above, nothing now remains
(
Mitt. 1902, 81; HJ 85;
AJA 1924, 368-398). The cryptoporticus
on the south-east side of the domus Tiberiana is sometimes attributed
to Nero (ZA 198; Mem. Am. Acad. v. pl. 62); this would account for
the break in the wall, where the branch to the
DOMUS AUGUSTIANA
(q.v.) goes off, which, of course, cannot be earlier than the time of
Domitian.
Domitian appears to have reconstructed the whole palace; the
excavations of 1728 on the summit of the hill brought to light some
fragments of columns and cornices, which appear to have belonged
to his time (
Mitt. 1895, 266-268), and some similar fragments still lie
about the garden which occupies the site. Further excavations were
carried on here in 1860 ff. as to which we have very scanty information ;
the whole rectangle (about 100 by 150 metres) seems to have had a
large courtyard with pillars in the centre and to have been divided
into three approximately similar parts, to judge from Rosa's plan.
A great deal of it (more than is generally supposed) rests upon arched
substructions; and that these have, as is only natural, undergone
later repairs, is clear from the presence, a long way in, of a copy of the
brick-stamp-C1L xv. 1081 (145-155 A.D.); but further investigation is
needed. For some fine pieces of pavement in opus sectile, see PT 183.
It is, of course, easier to study the outer extremities of the palace.
At the north angle we must attribute to Domitian the huge pile, on the
level of the forum, erected over the peristyle of Caligula, but on a
divergent orientation, which is commonly known as the temple of
AUGUSTUS (q.v.) with the two halls behind it, often called the
BIBLIOTHECA TEMPLI DIVI AUGUSTI (q.v.), into which the church of S. Maria
Antiqua was inserted before the sixth century (HCh 309; Rushforth,
PBS i. 1-123;
Mitt. 1902, 74-82;
1905, 84-94; HC 161-180;
Gruneisen, S. Marie Antique
(Rome 1911); Wilpert, Mosaiken und
Malereien, ii. passim), but by others supposed to be a reconstruction
of the vestibule of the domus Gaiana (Jahrb. d.
Inst. xxxvi. 1-36).
2
To him we must also attribute the reconstruction of the exterior
of the substructions of the palace itself, and especially the double-tiered
balcony above the clivus Victoriae-the so-called Bridge of Caligula
(
PBS vii. 1 18-120 ; AJA cit.) ; the rooms behind it are supposed to be
guard rooms; see RA 63, 64; Mem. Am.
Acad. iv. 46-48; HFP 67, 68.
A single-tiered balcony of the same form continues all round the
exterior of the substructions as far as the east angle (JRIBA 1922,
p. 561, fig. 8: ASA 135: the type is quite frequent at Ostia).
Hadrian enclosed the 'Temple of Augustus ' group with a stately
portico, with arcades connected by half columns. 'At the same time
the lofty guardrooms on the slope above vanished, in their turn, behind
even more lofty vaults and arches, which united the palace above to
the new Atrium Vestae below, which is of the same period. As a link
to unite these two great structures, Hadrian also built the majestic
ramp by which one still ascends to the Palatine' ; (
AJA 1924, 398 and
pl. x (III. 23) ; the plans in LF 29=LR 155 and ZA 193 are less correct).
On the south-west side of the palace there are traces of work of
the beginning of the second century A.D. (HJ 78, n. 96), especially in
the vaulted chambers described in
BC 1894, 95-100;
NS 1896, 162;
LR 148, and in the open fish pond above them.
The domus Tiberiana is mentioned in Hist. Aug. Pius o ; Marcus 6;
Verus 2, 6, as the residence of the emperors at that time (for the only
evidence of reconstruction, see above), though by
DOMUS COMMODIANA
(Commodus 12) the
DOMUS AUGUSTIANA (q.v.) is probably meant;
and its library is spoken of by Fronto ad M.
Caes. iv. 5, p. 68, Naber,
and
Gellius xiii. 20. I (from whom is probably taken the false statement in Hist. Aug. Prob. 2:
usus autem sum praecipue libris ex
bibliotheca Ulpia-item ex domo Tiberiana: v.
FORUM TRAIANUM).
Cf. also
CIL vi. 8653-5 for inscriptions of slaves attached to it
(8655a (=xiv. 4120. 3=xv. 7142), and 8656 should probably be added:
the latter, which mentions domus Palatina, belonging probably to the
time of Tiberius). It is also mentioned in the Notitia (Reg. X, Domum
Augustianam et Tiberianam). See HJ 64, 76-79; ZA 178, 189-198.
For the graffiti (representing rope dancers) in a room at the lower
level on the clivus Victoriae see Marucchi, Di alcuni graffiti del Palatino
(1898); cf. Forum Romain et Palatin, 1903, 378-380;
BC 1895, 195-196; AL 954.