Meta Sudans – Page 5 – Roger Pearse

Mussolini and the Meta Sudans

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Roger Pearse

It’s been a little while since I posted a picture of the Meta Sudans. This was the conical fountain at the end of the Appian Way, just outside the Colosseum.

At Wikimedia Commons today I found an old photograph, from the Bundesarchiv Bild library (no 102-12292) of Mussolini, from a podium outside the Colosseum. The Meta Sudans stands nearby, soon to be demolished at his orders. Here is the picture on Wikimedia Commons, which has a date of September 1931:

1931: Mussolini (left on the podium) addresses the fascist youth movement outside the Colosseum and the Meta Sudans. — Mussolini (left on the podium) addresses Fascist supporters outside the Colosseum and the Meta Sudans.

But here is what seems to be the same picture at the Bundesarchiv site (complete with annoying and pointless “watermark”), with the date April 1926. This states, contra to Wikimedia, that it was taken after Mussolini returned from Tripoli, and says nothing about “youth” at all.

I do wish that I could find a source that explained why Mussolini had the ancient fountain demolished. For a movement that drew inspiration from Ancient Rome, doing so was a curious thing. Probably some Italian source will hold the answer, but these are not nearly visible enough online.

Here’s another photograph of the Meta Sudans, this time by Richard Brenan, Dungarvan, Waterford on a holiday in Italy c.1910. A copy is present on the Waterford County Museum site, although with a watermark. (I must say that the greed of repositories for fees, when they are paid to make material available by the public, is rather shameful).

Meta Sudans ca. 1900. Waterford co. — Meta Sudans ca. 1900. Waterford County Museum, EB246.

This one I got from Twitter.

There are also some images available on coins, which are interesting. Here is a sestertius of Titus, showing the Meta Sudans to the left of the Colosseum:

A sestertius of Titus (80-81) showing the Meta Sudans

The same coin is depicted here:

There is also a medallion of Gordian III, ca. 240, via here, which depicts the Meta Sudans in antiquity:

Meta Sudans - medallion of Gordian — Meta Sudans – medallion of Gordian

And a photo of the item itself via here.

Medallion of Gordian III, ca. 240, depicting the Colosseum and Meta Sudans

And a too-dark photograph of the medallion from the British Museum website (and kudos to them for putting it online):

Medallion of Gordian III, ca. 240, depicting Meta Sudans and Colosseum

The sestertius of Titus is common, and copies can be had on the market easily enough. This means that we have some good photos, made freely accessible online. On the other hand the medallion of Gordian is rare. This means that our only access is rather rubbish. Museums that hold copies don’t make good quality photos available. One has to ask: isn’t this the reverse of what should happen? If public owned museums hold things, they should be more accessible, not less?

Now something else. Here is an excerpt of the Bufalini map of Rome (1551) indicating the position of the Meta Sudans:

Let’s now have some more old photographs.

Here’s another old photograph of the Meta Sudans, from the other side, with the Palatine in the background and the Arch of Constantine to the left:

Here’s another one, this time around 1922, from here:

Meta Sudans and Arch of Constantine, around 1922

The next one, from here (which also has a bunch of other photos of the Meta Sudans), is looking towards the arch of Titus, and taken around 1880:

And another from the same site:

And a third one, also from the same site. Note how the Meta Sudans lines up with the road to the forum?

Let’s end with a 16th century drawing by Du Perac, showing much the same view looking towards the forum.

It is remarkable that the monument looks basically the same as it does in the 19th century pictures. Du Perac has depicted it as taller and thinner than it was – it can hardly have got fatter since his time! – but it looks as if it was no taller in his day. The main damage to it, no doubt, occurred in the Dark Ages.

I do wonder if a complete set of documents exists in Italian archives somewhere. Is it conceivable that the demolition was not documented? Not really.

A book describing the ceiling of the vanished Septizonium in Rome

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Roger Pearse

A couple of weeks ago Ste. Trombetti posted on Twitter another couple of finds about the Septizonium. This was a facade in front of the Palatine hill in Rome, erected at the end of the Appian Way as a kind of formal entrance to the palaces, by Septimius Severus. It was pulled down in the 16th century, at which time only one end was still standing, and the materials used for various building projects.

The first of these is a guidebook to the wonders of Rome, Francesco Albertini (1469-1530?), Mirabilia Romae, 1520.^[1]

A rough translation: “About the Septizonium, and some epitaphs. The Septizonium is between the palace and the church of St. Gregory, of which there are standing three orders of columns high, not far from the Circus Maximus. Near this they say is the place of the tomb of the emperor Severus the African: concerning whom see Julius Capitolinus writes in the life …. (?) … Spartianus says the same” (not sure about the rest).

Another item by Sebastiano Serlio, “Il Terzo Libro delle Antichità di Roma”, 1544, p.82.^[2] This has a diagram of the vaulted inside of the roof of the Septizonium, and measurements of the extent of the building then standing, made by the author, so is very valuable indeed. The south end is at the top:

Finally – and nothing to do with the Septizonium – here on Twitter is a drawing of the Meta Sudans fountain, also now vanished, by Giacomo Lauro, “Splendore dell’antica e moderna Roma”, 1641:

I think we may all be grateful to Mr. Trombetti for the time spent in these online archives, locating these.

^[1]Online as a scan of a microfilm at the BNF here, and as a properly scanned book at the BSB here.↩
^[2]Online at BNF here.↩

The demolition of the Meta Sudans

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Roger Pearse

Quite by accident these evening I discovered a photograph of the Meta Sudans which is different to the rest. It shows what look like troops marching past a half-demolished Meta Sudans. Presumably these are some of Mussolini’s black-shirts.

Here it is (from somewhere on this site – I got it via Google Images):

Fascists assembled around the half-demolished Meta Sudans.

Here is another shot again showing the Arch of Constantine, from here:

Fascists assembled near the Arch of Constantine in Rome. 1936.

Was the Meta Sudans demolished, simply and solely because it was so positioned as to block the blackshirts from parading up the road and through the Arch of Constantine, to the Colosseum, then left along the Via del Foro Imperiali to his office?

Images of vanished Rome once more

Posted on July 4, 2014July 4, 2014 by Roger Pearse

Ste. Trombetti has turned his attention to the Dutch Rijksmuseum in his search for old etchings and drawings of Rome. The search for this museum is here.

The first image is of the vanished Septizonium, from 1550, a drawing by Hieronymus Cock (Antwerpen c. 1518-1570). The majority of the image consists of some unfamiliar-looking ruins on the Palatine hill – are these really in the right place? -, but the Septizonium is on the left, although masked by yet another unfamiliar ruin. The image is online here:

Septizonium, 1550, by Hieronymus Cock. Via Rijksmuseum

Another image from 1551, by the same gentleman, is at the same site. But this makes me deeply wary. For although it is definitely the Septizonium, end-on, to the left, the stuff to the right must be the Colosseum, and it certainly isn’t that far forward! These are not photographs, and it bears remembering. Anyway the image is online here:

Septizonium: Septizonii Severi Imp. cum continguis ruinis. Hieronymus Cock, 1551. Via Rijksmuseum

At the Biblioteca Digital Hispania, search page here, we find a rather more convincing drawing of the ruins on the Palatine hill, with the edge of the Septizonium at right: “Palatini monti prospectus” (1560-1612?) by Hendrick van Cleve (d.1595) & Philippe Galle (d.1612)”. It’s here:

Ruinarum varii prospectus ruriumq. aliquot delineationes. By P. Galle and Hendrick van Cleve. 156-1612? Via BNE.

Meanwhile back at the Rijksmuseum, Dr Trombetti has unearthed another photograph of the Meta Sudans, the ruined Roman fountain next to the Colosseum that was demolished by Mussolini. It’s here:

But while searching for the item at the Rijksmuseum, I stumbled across this 1666 prospectus of the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and … the Meta Sudans, twice the height of the photo and complete with a bulbous top. It comes from here:

If I extract the detail, it can be seen clearly:

A google image search for “View of the Colosseum and The Arch of Constantine – Antonio Joli” brings up a great number of paintings and other artworks, many featuring the Meta Sudans. Let’s end with a Canaletto, no less, from here:

Canaletto - Colosseum and Arch of Constantine, Rome. 18th c. — Canaletto – Colosseum and Arch of Constantine, Rome. 18th c.

A couple more images of the Meta Sudans (minus one I can’t show you!)

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Roger Pearse

Ste. Trombetti has had more luck today, this time finding images of the vanished fountain that stood between the arch of Constantine and the Colosseum.

The first item is an undated photograph on a German site – the “- here. It’s quite a splendid image. The site owners seem to be demanding money, the thieves. So I won’t upload it here.

At Cultura Italia here is an interesting image of people digging around the base of the fountain. It’s by Pinelli Bartolomeo, “Escavazioni alla Meta Sudante”, and made in 1831. Unfortunately the site only makes this small image available, and I’m not at all sure about the accuracy of anything in the sketch:

1831 - Excavations around the Meta Sudans — 1831 – Excavations around the Meta Sudans

Next, a photographic negative! Also at Cultura Italia, here. It was taken between 1880-1910:

And here, courtesy of Paint.Net, is a reversed, flipped, and auto-leveled version of the same:

Meta Sudans, image from negative, colours reversed, flipped vertically and auto-leveled in Paint.Net.

It shows the water channel in the heart of the fountain.

Images of vanished Rome : the Septizonium and the Meta Sudans

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Roger Pearse

Ste. Trombetti has been busily searching the online site of the Spanish National Library, and posting the results on Twitter.

First of these is a view of the Septizonium, the vanished facade of the Palatine, built by Severus at the end of the Appian Way and demolished in the 16th century for materials to build New St Peter’s basilica. This shot is particularly valuable, as it is more or less end-on, from the south, and shows the main structure consisted of two parallel walls, connected at intervals, with the facade on the front. It can be found here (click to enlarge):

Next up is an old photograph of the Colosseum, with a particularly nice image of the Meta Sudans, the fountain just inside the arch of Constantine. Its from here:

A detail shows the fountain clearly:

The same view is shown in an older drawing by Isidro Velazquez, made between 1792-96. Note that in this drawing the Meta Sudans is perceptibly taller, and appears to have a second stage atop the first. It’s from here:

Another image from the same period is an anonymous Spanish painting, “Anfiteatro Flavio, detto il Coloseo”, 1790-99. Here too the Meta Sudans appears taller, and with a bulbous top. From here:

Very interesting to see and compare!

Some 1860 photos of the lost Meta Sudans fountain in Rome

Posted on June 7, 2014June 7, 2014 by Roger Pearse

The meta sudans was an ancient Roman fountain outside the Colosseum. It was demolished, atypically, by Mussolini in 1936 as part of his improvements to Roman road transport. By then it was in a sad state.

Two marvellous photos have been found by @ste_trombetti^[1] on Twitter in a volume of photographs taken in 1860 by Altobelli and Molins^[2], and now online at the Bibliotheque Nationale Francais (here). Here they are. The first from here:

And from the other side, excerpted from here:

Wonderful!

^[1]Here and here.↩
^[2]Recueil. Vues de Rome, reproductions d’œuvres d’art et types romains.↩

Another angle on the Meta Sudans

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Roger Pearse

The Meta Sudans was a fountain in Rome on the Appian Way, just inside the Arch of Constantine. Its remains were demolished by Mussolini to make way for a road. In old photographs it is usually photographed from the Arch of Titus, which makes it look more complete than it was. Today I found online another photograph from the other side here.

Today only foundations remain. I took care to look for them on my recent visit to Rome. There is a circle in the grassy area in front of the Arch of Constantine.

An 1843 guidebook to Italy, Rome and the Papal states

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Roger Pearse

Quite by accident I have stumbled across an old guide-book on Google books. It was published in 1843 by John Murray, and is full of interesting details on how to travel in these now vanished lands. On page 8 there are details of arrangements for carriage travel, and then something on inns, concluding with some very wise words:

In cases of this kind it would be absurd to carry English habits and prejudices so far as to expect the comforts and conveniences of the great cities. Travellers never gain anything by exacting or requiring more than the people can supply and if they have sufficient philosophy to keep their temper they will generally find that they are treated with civility and kindness.

That advice still holds, in hotels in places like Egypt.

The arrival in Rome on p.247 descends into details of inns and rental arrangements, all clearly the product of much experience.

The ordinary currency of Rome is the “paul”, which ran at about 50 pauls to the pound sterling of those undepreciated days. How much is that, one wonders? The National Archives calculator reckons that a pound in those days is equivalent to 50 GBP ($75) today, which would make the “paul” about the same as a modern pound, or $1.50. The numbers do “feel” roughly right, although probably a little on the low side. But such conversions are really valueless, and the reader must assess comparative value for himself.

On p.254 we get a survey of Rome, which includes this:

To the south and east of this district are the Palatine, the Aventine, the Esquiline and the Caelian, all of which, though included within the modem walls, are little better than a desert; their irregular surface is covered with vineyards or the gardens of uninhabited villas and they present no signs of human habitations but a few scattered and solitary convents.

It is different today, of course.

Another difference may be found on p.297.

Close to the Coliseum is the ruin the conical fountain called the Meta Sudans, which formed an important appendage of the amphitheatre. It appears to have been a simple jet issuing from a cone placed in the centre of brick basin, 80 feet in diameter. It was rebuilt by Domitian and is supposed to have been intended for the use of the gladiators after the labours of the arena. It is represented on several medals of the amphitheatre of the time of Vespasian, Titus, Severus &c. The fountain was constructed of brick work in the best style; the central cavity and the channels for carrying off the water are still visible. It was repaired a few years since, but these modern restorations may easily be distinguished from the ancient work.

Sadly the remaining concrete core of the meta sudans was demolished by Mussolini in 1936. A photograph from 1922 must be one of the last:

ConstArchMetaSudans — The Meta Sudans outside the arch of Constantine, ca. 1922

This one from the 1880’s gives an excellent impression of the fountain, and its surrounding basin:

ARCHEOLOGIA IN POSA - Dal Colosseo a Cecilia Metella nell'antica — The Meta Sudans, ca. 1880

There are many images of the meta sudans to be found in Google Images.

The arch of Constantine, the meta sudans, and the arch of Titus in 1575

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Roger Pearse

I suppose all of us have stood next to the colosseum and looked up the slope towards the arch of Titus, at the entrance to the forum. Du Perac, in 1575, did the same. His illustration of the scene shows the arch of Constantine to the left, as it still is (the colosseum is immediately to the left, out of view); before it, the vanished “meta sudans” (the concrete core of which appears in 1922 photos, before being demolished by Mussolini as part of a traffic widening scheme), and to the right, the view to the arch of Titus, still embedded in the remains of the medieval Frangipani fortress, exactly as the later cork model shows it.

Click on the image for the full size image (from the BNF in Paris).

It’s interesting that somehow the scene, with walls indicating people’s fields and property, is more “real” somehow than the rather institutional view that one gets today.

Roger Pearse

Tag: Meta Sudans

Mussolini and the Meta Sudans

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A book describing the ceiling of the vanished Septizonium in Rome

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The demolition of the Meta Sudans

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Images of vanished Rome once more

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A couple more images of the Meta Sudans (minus one I can’t show you!)

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Images of vanished Rome : the Septizonium and the Meta Sudans

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Some 1860 photos of the lost Meta Sudans fountain in Rome

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Another angle on the Meta Sudans

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An 1843 guidebook to Italy, Rome and the Papal states

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The arch of Constantine, the meta sudans, and the arch of Titus in 1575

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