Römische Historische Mitteilungen, Band 64 (2022)

In this contribution, drawing on the comprehensive research by Eugenio Polito, selected examples of image media bearing depictions of weapons are discussed, with a focus on sacred buildings, in particular the imperial cult temple dedicated to Domitian and the Flavians in Ephesus. The historic context of the depictions of weapons and armour in connection with erecting a monument is also highlighted. The heterogeneous composition of weapon reliefs in general and the largely homogeneous typology of the weapons and elements of armour depicted contrast with the equally heterogeneous iconographic representation and stylistic execution. The few preserved examples of depictions of weapons on altars include Octavian’s victory monument in Nicopolis which relates directly to the Battle of Actium, and the altar in the Temple of Domitian in Ephesus, which reflects the many victorious military campaigns undertaken by the Flavians during the Dacian Wars.

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Countless scientific studies from the fields of archaeological, historical and art-historical research provide a uniform idea of the historically significant monumental building of the Colosseum. According to the epigraphic evidence and the written tradition of ancient authors, the emperor Vespasian (69–79 AD) had the amphitheatre with a capacity of around 50,000 spectators built ex novo on the site of a drained lake. To this day, this view has never been critically examined, although there are signs that point to a predecessor of the Flavian building. The construction and decorative forms of the Colosseum, the findings of recent excavations in the area of the arena and finally, the known dedicatory inscription of the building offer themselves as meaningful criteria.

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In the course of processing the architectural decoration of the Caracalla Baths, Gunhild Jenewein assigned fragments of historical reliefs to the palestras. The decoration element, unusual for thermae, reminds of the figure friezes of the ‘Partherdenkmal’, whose main finding place was the harbor gymnasium in Ephesos. The construction form and the location of this monument could not be clarified so far, because all relief plates had been reused in late antiquity. Instead of the previously favored form of construction as an altar building, a completely different use is suggested here for the first time. In the palestra of the harbor baths there are two large exedra, the southern one, the ‘Marble Hall’ is a facade hall with a tabernacle architecture. The northern exedra, on the other hand, was built as a niche hall at the time of its construction, but was remodeled in a second construction phase. According to two excavation photos, a blind facade was built in front of the niches. The 16 × 32 m room, with 64 m of wall area, results almost exactly in the total length reconstructed from the assemble marks of the bull’s head garland frieze. Since the figure friezes of the series with battle scenes, adoption and sacrifice scenes, personifications and deities together with the chariot rides can also be compressed to a length of about 64 m, the secondary placement of the friezes in the northern exedra for a banquet hall to honor the Antonian imperial house results in a hypothesis worth considering.

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The monumental complex of Insula II, a public building in the Lower Town of Velia, founded by the Phocaeans in 535 BCE, is one of the most known and discussed buildings in the town due to the spectacular finds of marble statues. The reason why the function and the chronology of this complex remain unclear until today can be found in the complex and – because of the inadequate state of publication – difficult to comprehend history of research. In fact, the building has been understood as the meeting place of a medical school, as a place of memory of an important Velinian family or as a complex for the imperial cult. The present contribution starts with the presentation of the various stages of research and the different attempts to explain the building. On this basis, we then give a synthesis of the stratigraphical sequence found during the Austrian excavations in the so-called Triporticus court and distinguish three phases. The first phase, following the suggestion of Hans Lauter, who studied the façade of the building, is dated to the Late Republican period. After its destruction, possibly due to a mudflow, the complex that is visible today was built in the Augustan period. It is here that we can assume that the marble portraits were exhibited. In the later 1st c. AD this building was destroyed as well. While M. Napoli supposed that the reason could be found in an earthquake, testified for Pompeii in 62 AD, new investigations make it more probable that the damage can be connected with the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. The subsequent phase of reorganization is difficult to reconstruct, as all contexts were already excavated in the 1960s, but the Hadrianic period, as suggested by M. Napoli, does not seem improbable. Finally, the development of Insula II is compared to a newly found building complex in Velia. The so-called Masseria Cobellis, a monumental building organized around an open court like Insula II, but housing a natural spring, was found in the vicinity of Insula II and shows not only similarities in architecture, but also in the history of the building. This allows us to reach new conclusions depending upon the stage of development of ideas and function of this area of the Lower town.

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The Baths of Nero, or more accurately the Baths of Alexander (Thermae Alexandrinae) since they were completely renovated by Severus Alexander in the second quarter of the 3rd century A.D., were located N-W of the Pantheon and took up an area of 190 x170 m in between the modern Corso del Rinascimento (to the west), the Salita de’ Crescenzi (to the south), the Via delle Coppelle (to the north), and the Piazza della Rotonda (to the east). This huge complex, which remained in use until the 5th century A.D., was later almost entirely incorporated into Renaissance buildings, such as Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Giustiniani, Palazzo Cenci, and the churches of S. Luigi dei Francesi and of S. Eustachio. A monumental apse of the bath complex is still visible inside a courtyard accessible from the Piazza Rondanini, while other remains of it are preserved in the Pii Stabilimenti Francesi.

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The paper analyzes the Opera Season of the Rome Opera House in the Baths of Caracalla as an idea of the 1930s. The idea of using the colossal architectural remains of ancient Rome as a backdrop for presentations with great effect on the audience was launched by the then Governor of Rome, Don Piero Colonna, and was immediately supported by Mussolini. A first experimental season was organized in 1937 in the Tepidarium for 8,000 spectators outside the building with almost unlimited funds. Those evening events attracted such an enthusiastic audience that the following year it was planned to increase the capacity of the stands up to 20,000 spectators. Hence, a theater was built in only three months and with a considerable number of workers in order to provide the masses (of the population) with opera and ballet performances at affordable prices. By spectacularizing the cultural policy, the party secured the consent of the people. The stage and stalls were installed in the Calidarium, while the huge technical apparatus was anchored in the ancient masonry. The big quantities of earth that over the centuries had occupied the underground corridors, which were used in Roman times for bringing in wood to heat the hot rooms of the baths, were removed. Besides, the vaults were stabilized, and the auditorium was built in the garden slightly uphill such as to guarantee a good view and perfect acoustics from every angle. The evening shows left lasting impressions at that time. But in 1939 all the shows were suspended and due to the war, they were discontinued until 1945, when they were resumed in a limited form. For years the shows have been held in front of the baths and no longer inside the complex. As a matter of fact, they are still part of the major events taking place during summer in the Italian capital city.

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Santino Solari was an Italian architect and sculptor who is mainly known for his work in Salzburg. However, only a few people know that he made his apprenticeship in Rome, a fact which is often ignored. Archival documents prove instead that he gained significant experience during his time in Rome, in the Vatican Gardens at the behest of Paul V Borghese and in the garden of Monte Cavallo for works commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. His relocation to Salzburg in 1612, where he followed the entourage of Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, led to the artist’s subsequent fervid production in the Austrian city, which was strongly influenced by his Roman experience.

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The ecclesiastical fathers, who had gathered for the ecumenical council of Trent, provided bishops with precise disciplinary norms to regulate their relations with the Holy See, as well as the activities within their own dioceses. New congregations to control the application of reform decrees within the Curia and the local dioceses were established during the 1570s and 1580s. From the very beginning of the 1570s one of the most powerful and most active was the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, charged with the control of religious institutions on the Italian peninsula (including the Papal State), through the institution of the apostolic visitation. Carried out by the apostolic visitator appointed by the Congregation, with the faculties accorded by the Pontiff himself, the inspective work was not limited exclusively to the doctrinal field. Along with the control and the defence of orthodoxy within the diocese, issues concerning the organisation of religious life of Catholic clergy and lay persons were also subjected to investigation. The visitator’s authority and duties included inspections of churches, monasteries, abbeys, priories and ecclesiastical property regardless of their exemptions or privileges. The control was extended to the institutions of controversial jurisdiction like chapters and hospitals, pawnshops, confraternities, scholae, and pious places. This wide sector’s autonomy was vigorously defended by the civil society. By examining archival documentation copied in Registra Episcoporum, Positiones and Visita Apostolica kept in the Vatican Apostolic Archives, the paper reconstructs the early history of the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars and highlights the relations that its secretary and the prefect had with the apostolic visitators sent to Dubrovnik, Dalmatia and Istria – Giovanni Francesco Sormani, Agostino Valier, Cesare de Nores. Activities of Pietro Cedulini and Boniface Darkolica, who were sent to visit Christian communities in Constantinople and southern Hungary, are herewith also analysed.

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Francesco Borromini’s extensive corpus of drawings contains numerous instances in which multiple levels of an architectural structure are drawn upon or into one another. This representational technique is called ‘synoptic projection’. By simulating corporeal coherence in a drawing’s two dimensions, it reflects and serves Borromini’s idiosyncratic habit of designing, i.e., the habit of having the plasticity of the designed structure at hand throughout the entire process. The article discusses (1) the distinct character of Borromini’s synoptic projections among other phenomena of graphic layering; (2) the technique’s primary significance as part of Borromini’s design process, although it is used not only in his design drawings but also in many sheets intended for publication; (3) the key role of the often forgotten design medium of the wax model, to which the synoptic drawings emphatically testify; and (4) the common comparison of Borromini’s synoptic projections with late medieval drawings that show similar graphic structures of multiple superimpositions.

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Probably the most important rhetorical strategy of the Dubrovnik Republic, traditionally used in dealing with Christian rulers in order to defend its state interests, was the one that supported the image of Dubrovnik as a ‘wall of Christianity’. Such a rhetorical argument was not chosen by chance. It was continuously present in diplomatic documents from the Middle Ages onwards and throughout the early modern period. It is particularly represented in the framework of diplomatic communication with Papal Rome. Papal Rome was still seriously interested in supporting the existence of the Dubrovnik Republic during the 17th century. In an effort to gain the addressee’s attention and achieve an effective outcome, Dubrovnik’s diplomatic rhetoric still used different variations of the same basic discourse, which was not just a mere phrase, but also a certain reflection of real circumstances. The image of existence on the very border of Christendom, which highlighted the necessity of taking the republic‘ s needs into account, took on an additional dramatic note during the Candian War (1645–1669). Emphasizing the fragile position of the small republic located between the opposing Venetians and the Ottomans, the Dubrovnik Senate did not fail to point out the exceptional need to preserve Dubrovnik’s neutrality. Highlighting of the geostrategic importance of Dubrovnik and, accordingly, the necessity of maintaining it was particularly evident in the period after the earthquake of 1667.

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In February 1819 the Austrian Emperor Francis I left his residence, Vienna, accompanied by his fourth wife Empress Carolina Augusta and a large entourage, for a six-month tour through Italy with stops in Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples. This special journey is well documented in Francis I’s personal diaries, written during the trip. It was Rome that dominated the whole journey. Soon after starting the first preparations for travel, it became quite clear that the visit to the Eternal City would be a delicate matter because of long-lasting disputes between the Papal states and the Habsburg monarchy. Originally Emperor Francis I wanted to celebrate the Easter holidays (Settimana Santa) privately, but ultimately it turned into an official state visit with all the concomitant pomp and circumstance. The monarch completed an intense but diverse program, beginning with the Easter liturgy. Typically for his solid character, the religious solemnity did not impress him at all. More precisely, he found these festivities quite odd and disappointing. Following the traditional Grand Tour pattern, the Emperor enjoyed himself by visiting well-known Roman sights. He entertained himself by studying lesser-known places in Rome’s surroundings and liked to discover the local flora and fauna there. In particular, the Roman ancient buildings impressed him deeply. Meeting the Roman elite and aristocracy, Francis I became the centre of attention on many occasions. Furthermore, he also came into contact with exiled monarchs and met other aristocrats who were visiting Rome, e. g. the Duchess of Württemberg, with whom Francis finalized the marriage contract for his younger brother Archduke Joseph. Finally, numerous personal meetings between Pope Pius VII and Emperor Francis I solved religious and political disagreements, which finally lead to a friendlier relationship between Rome and Vienna.

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The object of this study is the history of the public administration of the district of Volosko in the decades leading up to the First World War. The mild climate of the Liburnian coast had led to the establishment of an extended spa district around Opatija at the end of the 19th century, providing a range of employment opportunities for a population that otherwise relied on agriculture and fishing for its livelihood. This resulted in a massive migration of workers from Italy and from Croatian regions to the area, as well as of tourism-related companies and spa guests from throughout the monarchy. A particular cause for conflict was the use of colloquial language in schools and administrative offices. The political equilibrium in Istria was unstable, the regional government, dominated by Italians with a strong sense of their national identity, being opposed by an ever-growing sense of self-awareness among the Croatian and Slovenian populations, which was also finding expression in the Imperial Council in Vienna. These national interests had their basis in party-political issues and economic reasons. Within Istria, linguistic borders were fluid, and national attributions are therefore primarily indicative of political views. The dominant language was Croatian, with the Italian influence being primarily evident in cultural aspects. Both national groups cooperated in the movement supporting the autonomization of Istria, which, however, met with rejection from Croatian circles with a strong sense of national identity. The liberal national Italian policy was marked by a strong cultural and political sense of mission, and thus challenged the nationally oriented Croatian policy. The state administration favoured clear national attributions, thereby unwittingly contributing to the construction of national narratives. The most important tool for nationalization on both sides was clubs, societies and the press, where local elites dominated, thereby promoting national interpretations.

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This study deals with the contacts between the Apostolic Nuncio in Prague and the Czech Catholic milieu during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI (1922–1939). The tensions in the diplomatic relationships between Czechoslovakia and the Vatican reflect the dynamics of the political-religious relationships in Central Europe and the frequent conflicts that accompanied the actions of both sides. The study is primarily based on materials from the Vatican Apostolic Archives in Rome, the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, the Political Archives of the Foreign Office in Berlin, the Masaryk Archives in Prague and the archives of the Foreign Office of the Czech Republic, also in Prague. At the heart of the investigation are the Apostolic Nuncios in Prague, Clemente Micara, Francesco Marmaggi, Pietro Ciriaci and Saverio Ritter The dramatic end of their diplomatic mission affected the mutual relationship between the Vatican and Czechoslovakia and also had an effect on the political and religious milieu in the first Czech Republic.

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