The residence of the empress Helena, which was known as the Sessorium, or the Palatium Sessorianum (CIL VI, 1134) was situated in the Horti Spei Veteris. In the preceding century, Heliogabalus (218- 222 A.D.) had a villa there, which in size and character was comparable with Nero's Domus Aurea, or Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. The Amphitheatrum Castrense (q. v. I, 1-4), the Circus Varianus (q. v. I, 280-282) and the Thermae Helenae (q. v. II, 1257-1262) all formed part of it. An atrium of the palace, measuring 39.25 m. x 24.80 m. and 22 m. in height, with five arched entrances on the side and rectangular windows above, was converted by Constantine into the church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme. A covered corridor, more than 300 m. long, led down the south side of the building, from the Amphitheatrum Castrense to the Circus Varianus (s. plan, Circus Varianus I, 280). The grounds of the villa were cut in half when the Aurelian Wall was built (270-272 A.D.), and the part outside the wall was apparently abandoned. The rear wall and apse of a building which stands north of the church, is referred to in Renaissance drawings as the "Tempio di Venere e Cupido," for no apparent reason. This hall does not belong to the original complex of the Sessorium, but dates from the beginning of the 4th century. The excavations, which started in 1958 and are not yet completed, have discovered further rooms of the palace with fresco decorations, to the east of the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment