MAUSOLEUM HADRIANI
* the modern Castel S. Angelo, on the right bank of
the Tiber, built by Hadrian as his mausoleum, together with the bridge
(
PONS AELIUS, q.v.) by which it was approached (Ill. 34) (Hist. Aug. Hadr.
19:
fecit sui nominis pontem et sepulcrum iuxta Tiberim; Pius 5:
Hadriano ... mortuo reliquias eius ... in hortis Domitiae conlocavit;
Cass.
Dio lxix. 23:
ἐτάφη δὲ πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ ποταμῷ, πρὸς τῇ γεφύρᾳ τῇ Αἰλιᾳ ἐνταῦθα γὰρ τὸ μνῆμα κατεσκευάσατο). The mausoleum of
Augustus had last been opened to receive the remains of Nerva, but
was no longer in use; and the Antonine emperors and their families
were buried also in the mausoleum of Hadrian,
1 so that it acquired the
name of Antoninorum sepulcrum or
᾿Αντωνινεῖον (Hist. Aug. and Cass.
Dio cit.). Inscriptions actually recorded (
CIL vi. 984-995) are as
follows: the dedicatory inscription to Hadrian and Sabina set up in
139 A.D. (the latter was already deified, the former not) by Antoninus
Pius, the sepulchral inscriptions of Antoninus Pius and Faustina, and
of three of their children ; of Aelius Caesar; of three children of Marcus
Aurelius; of Lucius Verus, and of Commodus. That Marcus Aurelius
himself was buried here follows from Herodian 4. I. 4 (
ἀπέθεντο-the urn
containing the ashes of Septimius Severus--
ἐν τῷ νεῷ ἔνθα Μάρκου τε καὶ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλέων ἱερὰ μνήματα δείκνυται), and it is probably true
of Faustina the younger also. Cass. Dio (lxxvi. 15. 4;
lxxviii. 9. I;
24. 3) tells us that, besides Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta were
also laid to rest here. The various mentions of it in Hist. Aug. (Severus
19. 3=24. 2; Carac. 9. 12=Macrin. 5. 2) are simply copied from
Cassius Dio; see v. Domaszewski,
SHA 1916, 7 A. 5 sqq.; and, for
the first passage, cf.
SEPULCRUM SEVERI.
It had already been included in the system of fortifications by the
time of Procopius, when it was converted into a bridgehead (in Hadrianio
sunt turres vi. etc. DMH) and became the chief fortress of the city (see
PORTA AURELIA (2),
PORTA CORNELIA). A description of it by Pope
Leo I (440-461) was long thought to have been preserved in the Mirabilia
(Urlichs 106); but the idea is baseless (
Jord. ii. 426 sqq.); and the account
of Petrus Mallius, which is often quoted as an independent authority, is
probably copied from the Mirabilia itself.
A detailed account is, however, given by Procopius (
BG i. 22) who
says that it was faced with blocks of Parian marble, and that there were
statues of men and horses of the same material in the upper part, which
rose above the city walls. The statues were, many of them, hurled down
upon the besieging Goths in 537 A.D.
John of Antioch (Malalas) cited in HJ 665, n. 113, writing in the
eighth century, describes a colossal quadriga on the summit of the
mausoleum; but Hulsen points out (Boll. Ass. Arch.
Rom. iii. 27) that
the chapel of S. Angelo de Castro S. Angeli, also called inter nubes-see
HCh p. 196, 586-which commemorated the vision of Gregory the
Great in 590, during a plague, of the archangel Michael sheathing his sword
above the fortress, and was probably founded by Pope Boniface IV
(608-615), must already have been in existence there. Another mediaeval
church was that of S. Thomas de Castro S. Angeli (HCh 491) ; while the
church constructed by Hadrian I (
constituit ... foris portam b. Petri
apostoli... (diaconiam) S. Mariae quae ponitur in Adrianum (
LPD
i. 521)) was later called S. Maria in Traspadina (which then became
Transpontina) and was only removed by Pius IV (HCh 370-371).
The description of the Mirabilia mentions the bronze railings which
surrounded the building
(the foundations of which came to light in
1890), and states that they were adorned with peacocks of gilt bronze,
afterwards removed to the fountain (the famous pinecone) which adorned
the forecourt of S. Peter's (Huilsen,
Mitt. 1904, 87 sqq.; Egger, Rom.
Veduten i. pls. 24, 25; text p. 28; DuP 35-40); also a porphyry sarcophagus (supposed, but without reason, to be that of Hadrian) which
served as the tomb of Pope Innocent II at the Lateran, while its cover
was in the forecourt of S. Peter's, over the tomb of Cynthius, prefect of
the city
(d. 1077). A bronze bull and four horses of gilt bronze, and
bronze doors on each side are also mentioned (Jordan treats them as
pure inventions, but it must be remembered that he wrote before the
discovery of the foundations of the railings), and bronze doors below
(i.e. in the square base of the tomb), ' as they appear at the present day.'
These last are also mentioned in connection with the death of Paschal II
in 1118 (
LPD ii. 344,
obiit aput castellum S. Angeli, in domo iusta (sic)
eream portam). As fortress, prison, and summer residence of the Popes
it has a most interesting history, which cannot be followed here. For
removal of ancient materials in the Middle Ages, see
LS i. 18, 19; DAP
2. xv. 371.
The whole monument was enclosed by a low wall; at the entrance from
the bridge were four travertine pillars upon which stood the bronze
peacocks above mentioned; and between them were bronze grilles
(
NS 1892, 424). For the bronze bull which is said to have stood here
in the Middle Ages, see
JRS 1919, 21;
1925, 77. The lower part was a
base or podium about 84 metres square and o0 high, consisting of a
travertine wall, faced originally with marble. Over the entrance was the
dedicatory inscription (
CIL vi. 984), the other sepulchral inscriptions
being disposed on each side of the door (
Mitt. 1891, 142). Behind the
travertine wall is an inner wall of brickwork 2 feet thick, into which
are bonded the radiating brick walls of the vaulted chambers that
surrounded the main circular drum. At each angle the internal wall
thickens out into a solid mass to support the groups of men and horses
of which Procopius speaks.
Careful study of the points of contact between these walls
and the
main drum seems to indicate that the erection of the square base was
decided on after the building of the drum was well advanced, probably
for greater accommodation ; for though the chambers formed by the
radiating walls do not, in their present form, look very like sepulchral
chambers, it is difficult to seek elsewhere those which would probably
have been necessary-unless we suppose (which is not impossible, as
most, if not all, of the bodies were cremated) that the remains were placed
in the central tomb chamber. This measures about 9 by 8 metres, and
thus would have provided ample room for the urns-not more than twenty
in all, so far as we know-which were placed in the mausoleum.
The main drum, 64 metres in diameter and 21 high, is constructed
of concrete, and was also faced with Parian marble. The original
entrance, the floor of which is some 12 feet below the present level, has
been cleared; it leads into a vestibule, at the end of which is a large niche;
it probably contained a colossal statue of Hadrian, the head of which,
formerly in the Castello, is now in the Vatican (HF 292). A colossal
head of Antoninus Pius, which is still in the Castello, belongs also to a
statue (Bernoulli, Rom.
Ikon. ii. 2. p. 143, No. 34). From the vestibule
a finely preserved spiral ramp, ventilated by four airshafts, at a gradient
of about 1 in 10, leads, through the solid core, up to the corridor of the
central tomb chamber, which lies vertically above it. The ramp was
probably continued as a staircase beyond the approach to the central
tomb-chamber, up to the level of the garden (the earth belonging to it was
found in Borgatti's excavations, and under it was a bed of concrete),
which appears to have occupied the upper surface of the drum, except
for a second square chamber. Above this again was a cylinder containing
a third (circular) chamber; the spiral staircase which encircles this
chamber and by which the uppermost terrace is now approached has
recently been shown to be ancient to within 8 feet of the top.
See Borgatti, Castel S. Angelo, Rome 1890; id. (Monumenti d'Italia 4),
Rome 1911;
Mitt. 1891, 137-145; Rodocanachi, Chateau St. Ange
(Paris,
1909); Ann. Accad. S. Luca, 1909-11, 121-125; Boll. Ass. Arch.
Rom.
1913, 25-32; DuP 51-55; HJ 663-667;
JRS 1925, 75-103 (by S. R. Pierce,
with a series of drawings and reconstructions); Mem. L. 5. xvii. 525, 526.
