ARAE INCENDII NERONIS
altars erected by Domitian, probably one
in each region, to commemorate the great fire of Nero and also
incendiorum arcendorum causa (
CIL vi. 826, 30837). These altars were
dedicated to Neptune, and copies exist of the inscriptions from three of
them. One of these altars is recorded as having been used as building
material for S. Peter's in the early sixteenth century. Another stood on
the south-west side of the circus at the foot of the slope of the Aventine,
within the present limits of the Jewish cemetery, where some remains of
the steps were found. A third, rediscovered in 1889, stood in an area
paved with travertine on the south side of the Alta Semita, opposite the
temple of Quirinus, under the Ministero della Casa Reale, close to the
modern church of S. Andrea. The three steps that led up from this area
to the higher level of the street have been traced for a distance of 35 metres
(and are partially visible in the modern wall). Along the front of the
area, close to the lower step, was a row of travertine cippi, 1.40 metres
in height, 0.80 by 0.50 in depth and width, and 2.50 apart, of which three
were found in situ, two whole and one injured. The altar itself was
2.75 metres back from the cippi, and was built of travertine, with a marble
cornice. It was 1.26 metres in height and 3.25 by 6.25 in breadth and
length, and stood on a pedestal with two steps (
BC 1889, 331-335, 379 ff.;
Mitt. 1891, 116-8;
1894, 94-7; LF 6 ; HJ 128, 410, 425).
