More pictures of the Meta Sudans

Here’s another photograph of this now vanished monument in Rome:

Rome – Prof. Clementina Panella: Archaeological Investigations (2002-2008) - THE META SUDANS & THE N.E SLOPE OF THE PALATINE HILL. "Roma vista dall' alto Collosseo." # 8 (c. 1900) Alb. 25 / 2351 - Arch. Storico Capitolino Roma (2008).
Rome – Prof. Clementina Panella: Archaeological Investigations (2002-2008) – THE META SUDANS & THE N.E SLOPE OF THE PALATINE HILL. “Roma vista dall’ alto Collosseo.” # 8 (c. 1900) Alb. 25 / 2351 – Arch. Storico Capitolino Roma (2008).

The source for this is Flickr, which gives some more details of the photograph:

Foto Fonti / foto source: Roma vista dall’alto (8) Colosseo.
Fotografo: Stabilimento Costruzioni Aeronautiche Roma – Laboratorio Fotografico.
Data: primo quarto 1900
Tecnica: gelatine
Vecchia_Segnatura: Alb.25
Sottoserie: 12) Roma vista dall’alto – Album
ID_progr: 2351
Note: did.tip.
Serie: 4) Monumenti, Vie, Piazze, Palazzi
©2008 Comune di Roma – Dipartimento politiche culturali
ARCHIVIO STORICO CAPITOLINO

Hmm.  We really need some proper way to locate all these pictures.

UPDATE: (Via the comments) It seems that Martin G. Conde has been collecting, and posting online, the materials assembled by Prof Clementina Panella during her work in the Colosseum valley area between 202-2015.  This consists of 374 photographs, plus scholarly articles, etc.  This is really important – such material too often rots in a box somewhere.  Dr Conde’s site can be found here.

Here’s another photo from 1890, via Roma Iera Oggi:

1890 Image of the Colosseum and Meta Sudans.  Via Roma Ieri Oggi
1890 Image of the Colosseum and Meta Sudans. Via Roma Ieri Oggi

Next, a picture of an 1816 painting, by J.M.W.Turner no less, taken from the Tate Gallery.

Rome: Arches of Constantine and Titus 1819 Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/D16367
Rome: Arches of Constantine and Titus 1819 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/D16367

Note the extra height of the monument: but also that it has been opened up at the back, right to the centre, doubtless in search of treasure.

It is wonderful to have these photos.  Rather less wonderful is when a site collects photographs – all long out of copyright, of course – and disfigures them with its own “watermark”.  Such is the shameful practice at the RomaSparita website.  There are four pages of photos of the Meta Sudans here, some  very interesting, all vandalised.  I won’t try to reproduce them here.

Share

8 thoughts on “More pictures of the Meta Sudans

  1. Dear prof. Pearse, thank you for sharing the historic photographs of the Meta Sudans ruins of Rome. The pictures are from my photographic collection of the Archaeological research conducted by Prof. Clementina panella and here students on the Palatine Hill overlooking the Meta Sudans and the Colosseum valley (2001-15).

    As for your comment – “Hmm. We really need some proper way to locate all these pictures,” Unfortunately, over the course of the last few years the search engine of GOOGLE is not longer as reliable as it was several years ago. Likewise, the search engine on Flickr, after the recent site update, the search engine is now useless. Both of the problems are the reason it is difficult to find these historic and other contemporay images on a regular internet search. In the comment | website section above I left the correct LINK to my Flickr page with all the research of prof. Panella of the University of Rome, as well as the collection has a number of historic photographs, prnts and paintings of the Meta Sudans and the colloseum valley area… thank you martin

  2. Below- an electronic archive of the research conducted by Prof. Prof.ssa Clementina Panella (2002-15), in: 372 foto’s; scholarly articles; news articles and one video; as well as other relevant information on the history of the development of the area since antiquity to the present. Note: Prof. Panella and staff and students have been more then grateful in sharing a great deal of her their research materials.

    Prof.ssa Clementina Panella, Roma-Piazza del Colosseo, area della Meta Sudans; pendici nord-orientali del Palatino. Dipartimento Di Scienze Dell’ Antichita, La Sapienza (2002-2015) [aggiornato 2015].

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/sets/72157594580930580/

  3. I’m very busy tonight, but really interested to hear about this! This is great stuff! Thank you so much for this info. More later.

  4. Dear Dr Conde,

    Thank you so much for making this material available online! It is simply a treasure, and I at least am very grateful. I am also grateful that you took the time to tell us that this is your material – I had not known. I will update the main post with a link and note.

    I agree about Google Image search and Flickr. I wonder what could be done. Material appears and then apparently vanishes!

    All the best,

    Roger Pearse

  5. Dear Prof. Pearse, thank you, but it is only Martin, I am just an independent researcher.

    During the course of the later phase of Prof. Clementina Panella’s archaeological research on the Meta Sudans, the Colosseum Valley and now more recently on the Palatine Hill (c. 2006-now), Prof. Panella and her staff and her students have created a very detailed and contimuously update webpages thoroughly document their research conducted in the overall area since 2002 to the present. The newest webpage by Prof. Panella is cited here below.

    — Prof. Clementina Panella, Roma: lo scavo archeologico della Meta Sudans e del Palatino nord-orientale, La Sapienza Universty of Rome (as of 06| 2015).

    http://digilab2.let.uniroma1.it/palatino/it

    — Rassegna on line [= archaeological news online; for =] Roma: lo scavo archeologico della Meta Sudans e del Palatino nord-orientale (as of 06| 2015).

    http://digilab2.let.uniroma1.it/palatino/it/content/rassegna-line-0

    Prof. Panella, was more then kind to include my research database of her research on FLICKR | WORDPESS for the benefit of the readers interested in her overall research in the ‘Rassegna on line’ section of her website 9as cited above).

    I am not sure what your overall interest is in ancient Rome, but, I have other “Rassegna on line” similiar databases (to that of the work by Prof. Panella) for the following sites in Rome: The Roman Forum, the Imperial Fora, the Capitoline Hill, the Colosseum valley, etc., As well as other historical photographs, prints and engrazing for each othe sites above also on FLICKR | Worldpress.

    Thank you, and I am glad my work is of some interest. Martin

  6. Dear Prof. Pearse, probably the best digital collection of photographs, prints, engravings and paintings of the Meta Sudans and the Colloseum valley is that by Sig. Alvaro de Alvariis, an independent researcher in Rome.

    Here is the like to his flickr site for the Meta Sudans –

    Roma, “Meta Sudans” by Sig. Alvaro de Alvariis, Foto 1 to 30.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dealvariis/sets/72157618724229236

    Sig. Alvaro de Alvariis, has roughy 64,000 digital photographs, prints, engravings and paintings for ancient Rome and modern Rome. Here too, it is difficult to locate his work on either google or flickr.

    Any scholar, student and independent researcher interested in Rome, should become familiar with Sig. Alvaro de Alvariis work. Nothing else like it exist ‘digitally’ in Rome, or elsewhere.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dealvariis/

    The link cited here below is all of Sig. Alvaro de Alvariis work, as divided by the Rioni | districts of Rome.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dealvariis/collections/72157622725196656/

    You can find more images of the Meta Sudans in the collection of Sig. Alvaro de Alvariis work in his section entitled “Rione Celio”

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dealvariis/collections/72157615067087223/

  7. Dear Martin,

    (I am not a professor, just Roger, an interested amateur.)

    Thank you so much for these links. I will look at these. Especially thanks for the photos from Alvaro de Alvariis.

    My interest is in old images of ancient buildings that no longer exist, like the Meta Sudans, or the temple on the Quirinal, or the Septizonium, or Old St Peter’s. But of course Rome is wonderful anyway.

    I would be interested in your other collections also.

    I ought to write a blog post on all this.

Leave a Reply