AREA CAPITOLINA
* the open space in front of and around the temple of
Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the south summit of the Capitoline (Suet.
Cal. 22, 34;
Gell. ii. 10. 2; Sidon.
Ep. i. 7. 8;
Vell. ii. 3. 2;
Liv. xxv.
3. 14: area Capitolii), made by building retaining walls and substructures
round the edge of the hill and levelling off the surface enclosed. The
area was therefore in effect a built-up platform, part of which at least
was contemporaneous with the foundations of the temple. It was
enlarged in 388 B.C., and was regarded as a notable monument even at
the beginning of the empire (
Liv. vi. 4. 11). The extent of the area has
been a matter of dispute, and some scholars have maintained that it
did not extend more than about 15-16 metres from the sides of the
temple (Richter, Beitrage zur rom.
Top. ii. 24-25 ; Hermes, 1883, 115-118;
cf.
Gilb. iii. 398-399; Aust in
Roscher ii. 709), but the prevailing view
at present is that it covered practically all of the Capitolium (Hulsen,
Festschrift fur H. Kiepert 209-222;
RE iii. 1534-1538; Rodocanachi,
Le Capitole romain 25-26). Remains of the walls of the substructures
have been found on the east side which prove that the area extended
in this direction about 35 metres from the temple. On the west it was
probably not more than 30 metres wide, and in front from 40 to 45.
Behind the temple there appears to have been only a narrow space, but
wide enough for the passage of a procession (Plin.
NH viii. 161). Besides
the space occupied by the great temple, the area therefore contained
something more than one hectare of surface, sufficient for the other temples
and monuments that stood
in Capitolio-an expression ordinarily interpreted as equivalent to
in area Capitolina.
The area was surrounded by a wall, and a porticus built in 159 B.C.
on the inner side of the wall (
Vell. ii. 1. 2, 3. 1). The principal entrance
was in the middle of the south-east side, opposite the front of the great
temple, where the clivus Capitolinus ended, and was sometimes referred
to as fores Capitolii (Suet. Aug. 94; App.
BC i. 16; Tac.
Hist. iii. 71).
A little south of this entrance, near the corner of the area, was the
PORTA
PANDANA (q.v.), and there may have been others. The area was closed
at night and protected by dogs (Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 56;
Dionys. xiii. 7;
Gell. vi. 1. 6), under the charge of a janitor in whose house Domitian
took refuge from the Vitellians. This house was afterwards removed to
make room for the Shrine (q.v.) of
IUPPITER CONSERVATOR (Tac.
Hist.
iii. 74; Suet. Dom. 5; cf.
CIL vi. 479=xiv. 32). Sacred geese were
also kept in the area (Dionys. Cic. locc. citt). Beneath the surface of
the area were subterranean passages called favissae, which were entered
from the cella of the great temple, and served as store-rooms for the
old statues that had fallen from its roof, and for various dedicatory gifts
(Fest. 88;
Gell. ii. 10. 2;
Gilb. ii. 419;
Roscher ii. 710).
Within this area were the casa Romuli, the Curia calabra, the aedes
Tensarum, and the atrium Publicum; and a considerable number
of temples-of Fides, Iuppiter Feretrius, Iuppiter Custos, Iuppiter
Conservator, Iuppiter Tonans, Ops, Mars Ultor, Fortuna Primigenia,
and probably of Mens and Venus Erycina; as well as of several altars
or shrines-the great altar of Jupiter (see
TEMPLE OF JUPITER), of
Iuppiter Soter, Isis and Serapis, Bellona, Genius Populi Romani with
Felicitas and Venus Victrix, the gens Iulia, and perhaps Iuppiter Victor
and Indulgentia (see all these under their own names). The temple of
Fides probably stood at the south-west corner of the area, but the site
of the others is unknown.
1
There were also many statues of various deities set up in the area and
in the temples (Serv. ad
Aen. ii. 319:
in Capitolio omnium deorum
simulacra colebantur; cf. Tert. Spect. 12; Jord.i. 2. 50-51; Rodocanachi
43-44). One of Jupiter, of colossal size, was erected by Sp. Carvilius
in 293 B.C. and could be seen from the temple of Iuppiter Latiaris on the
Alban mount (Plin.
NH xxxiv. 34, 43); a second stood on a high pillar and
after 63 B.C. was turned to face the east (Cic.
Cat. iii. 20; de div. i. 20;
Cass.
Dio xxxvii. 9, 34; Obseq. 122). In 305B.C. a colossal statue of
Hercules was placed
in Capitolio (
Liv. ix. 44), and another,
2the work of Lysippus, was brought from Tarentum in 209 (Plut. Fab. 22; Plin.
NH xxxiv. 40; Strabo vi. p. 278). There were others of Mars (Cass.
Dio
xli. 14),
3 Liberpater (CIL iii. p. 849), Iuppiter Africus (CIL iii. pp. 853, 885),
and Nemesis (Plin.
N.H. xi. 251 ;
xxviii. 22).
It became customary to erect statues of famous Romans on the
Capitol, although it is not always possible to determine whether they
stood in the open area, or within the precincts of some temple (
Jord.
i. 2. 58-59;
Gilb. iii. 386-387; Rodocanachi 45-46). Those that seem
to have stood in the open area were the statues of the kings
4and Brutus
(Cass.
Dio xliii. 45; Asc. Scaur. 30; Plin.
NH xxxiv. 22-23;
xxxiii. 9,
10, 24; App.
BC i. 16), L. Scipio (Cic. pro Rab. Post. 27; Val.
Max. iii.
6. 2), M. Aemilius Lepidus (ib. iii. 1. 1), the Metelli (Cic. ad
Att. vi.
1. 16), Q. Marcius Rex (CIL iii. p. 846), T. Seius (Plin.
NH xviii. 16),
Pinarius Natta (Cic. de div. ii. 47), Domitian (Suet. Dom.-13), Claudius
(Hist. Aug. Cl. 3), Aurelian (Hist. Aug. Tac. 9). These became so
numerous that Augustus removed many of them to the campus Martius
(Suet. Cal. 34:
statuas virorum illustrium ab Augusto ex Capitolina
area propter angustias in campum Martium conlatas... subvertit).
Trophies of victory, like those of Marius (Plut. Caes. 6; Suet. Caes. 11)
and Germanicus (CIL iii. p. 856), and votive monuments (
Gilb. iii. 384-387);
were also thickly strewn about, and a wholesale removal of these objects
was ordered, as it had been in 179 B.C., in the time of Augustus (Suet.
Cal. 34). Cf. infra, p. 298. Very many bronze tablets containing
treaties and laws and military diplomas were preserved within the area,
being ordinarily fastened to the walls of the area and of the temples, and
to the bases of the statues and monuments (cf.
BC 1896, 187-189;
Jord.
i. 2. 52-56; CIL iii. Suppl. p. 2034; for the area Capitolina in general,
see Hulsen, Festschrift fur H. Kiepert 209-222;
Jord. i. 2. 37-40;
Gilb.
ii. 423-425;
iii. 388, 399; Hermes, 1883, 115-118;
RE iii. 1535-1537;
Rodocanachi, Capitole,
Paris 1905, 25-26 et passim).
