1995.01.07
long axis - outline
All the above topics do fall under the general scope of the long axis. In this way I could see the long axis, and all it entails, comprising one very long encompassing chapter (of sorts), however the chapter will not be called "the long axis." It will more likely be chapter or volumn one, which will feature:
a. the Templum and Area Martis
b. the long axis
c. the Horti Neroniani
d. the dual Hadrian/Domitian complex (duality and symmetry)
e. the Horti Agrippinea
f. the rest of the buildings west of the Tiber.
1995.01.07
Hadrian/Domitian complex
I did not make proper reference to the role of Domitian within the Hadrian complex. From now on I will refer to the Hadrian complex as the Hadrian/Domitian complex. This complex shall be analyzed for its dualistic symmetries. Special attention will be given to the two tombs flanking the complex. Perhaps here is where the sexual connotations will come into play.
1995.01.07
Campo Marzio - encyclopedia reference
Here are some general historical notes on the Campus Martius area taken from Encyclopedia Britannica (19-572d):
Circus Flaminius - Beyond the point, occupying the low-laying ground in the bend of the river, lay the districts of the Circus Flaminius and the Campus Martius. The former area took its name from the stadium that was built in 220 BC on the site later occupied by the medieval ghetto. The principal Roman buildings still visible are the entrance to the Porticus Octaviae and the temples of the Largo Argentina. The former, a porticoed enclosure with a public library, was built by Augustus' sister Octavia, replacing an earlier building, the Porticus Metelli of 146 BC. Within it stood temples of Jupiter and of Juno. The entrance is a Severan restoration (AD 203). The sacred area of the Largo Argentina, excavated between 1926 and 1929, consists of a group of four small temples, three rectangular and one circular, which in their present form date from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and which survived with only minor alterations throughout the Imperial period. The dedications are not known. Behind them, to the west, lay the Thearter of Pompey, the first permanent theater in Rome (55 BC), considerable remains of which survive incorporated in the houses to the east of the Campo dei Fiori. Scanty traces of the Augustine Theater of Balbus (13 BC) have been identified beneath the Palazzo Mettei de Paganica.
Campus Martius - The Campus Martius, though public property from a very early date, was still open and in places swampy ground right down to the time of Augustus, when it was drained and laid out as a new monumental quarter by Agrippa (d. 12 BC). Though few of the actual Agrippian building survived the fire of AD 80, the quarter retained its monumental character throughout antiquity. In the Middle Ages, when the inhabited center of the city shifted to the lower ground by the river, most of the Roman buildings were destroyed. The principal surviving monument is the Pantheon...
Adjoining the Pantheon were Agrippa's Baths, the first of the great public bath buildings of Rome. Surviving buildings in the Campus Martius include the shattered drum of the Mausoleum of Augustus and, re-erected beside it, the Ara Pacia (13-9 BC) which stood besides the Via Flaminia at the corner of the modern Via in Lucina. The Column of Marcus Aurelius (dedicated AD 193) stands in the Piaza Colonna; it was modeled on Trajan's column and depicts the emperor's Danubian campaign. Much of the Temple of Hadrian can be seen incorporated into the Borso, the stock exchange, and on the opposite bank of the Tiber is the Mausoleum of Hadrian, converted in the Middle Ages into the fortress of Castel S. Angelo. Much of the Egyptian sculpture in the Vatican and other museums and several of the smaller Egyptian obilisks came from the destroyed sanctuary of Isis and Sarapis near the Collegio Romano, and the obilisk now in the Piazza Monticitoris was the pointer of the monumental sundail erected by Augustus near the Ara Pacia. The piazza Navona preserves the shape and much of the structure of the Circus of Domitian.
Wholly or partly surviving Roman bridges are the Pons Fabricius (62 BC), the Pons Aelius, now Ponte S. Angelo (AD 134), the fragmentary Pons Aemilius, or Ponte Rotto (179-142 BC), and some distance upstream the Pons Militius (109 B.C.).
1995.01.11
Forma Urbis - original reconstructions
On Monday (1.9.95), I found a very good book at Paley Library containing many maps making up one big map of Rome, overlaying ancient, baroque and contemporary footprint information. This is a remarkable find. It is all the information I wanted to know about Rome. This map information will allow a complete comparative analysis of Piranesi's Campo Marzio and ancient Rome as well as contemporary Rome.
At a first glance overview, there are already many facts that have come to light. First of all, there is much historical evidence for much of Piranesi's placements of buildings and complexes. Although Piranesi reconstructed most of the Campo Mnarzio with what one could call an abundence of originality, he did not do so with what is now an obvious knowledge of what programatically existed in ancient times. That is to say that even though Piranesi did not know what particular ancient buildings looked like, he knew where they were and also had a clear idea of the placement, function, and how they were used.
Secondly, it is now easier to separate fact from fiction. This is perhaps what is most appealing about the Ichnographia--the fact that one can use this large map to get into Piranesi's mind. (The Ichnographia is full of degrees of representation.) Through comparing what did exist in ancient Rome and what Piranesi depicts, one can begin to formulate a possible process that Piranesi followed in designing/drawing the Campo Marzio, a process the is proving to not be a pure exercise in fantasy creation.
Thirdly, it is also seeming to be possible that in Piranesi's "original"reconstructions, he may also at times have been making a commentary on the evolution of urban design in Rome, i.e. comparing and making critical reference to both ancient Rome and baroque Rome, and in turn commenting on and making critical reference to urban design in general.
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1995.01.11
degrees of representation
At a later date I want to elaborate on the idea of the Ichnographia being full of degrees of representation. Establishing the concept of degrees of representation, and showing examples within the Ichnographia, is perhaps going to be the best analytical procedure to follow. In general, the degrees of representation represent the many stages of design methodology and design results that are traversed when in the process of creating a(n original) historical reconstruction. (I just realized the paradox of an original historical reconstruction.)
1995.01.11
metabolic imagination
I must also remember to consider the idea of Piranesi utilizing a metabolic imagination. This concept may be extremely useful and illuminating in terms of making a case for Piranesi's possible graphic commentary/criticism of the evolution of Roman urban design. The idea of a metabolic imagination may also be useful in explaining degrees of representation.
1995.01.11
relation of past and present site placement
On a very specific level, I now know the exact location of the Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps in relation to the Ichnographia. The Piazza del Popolo is not represented in any way at all in the Ichnographia, however the Spanish Steps is where the Horti Lucullani was in ancient times, and where Piranesi places the Horti Luciliani in the Ichnographia. Piranesi designed a hugh staircase leading up to the Horti Luciliani and this may be a prime example of Piranesi's critical commentary on Roman urban design.
There is also a connection between the existing remnants of the ancient wall in the vicinity of the P. del Popolo and Piranesi's Bustum Augustus. There seems to have been, since ancient times, a large triangular formation in this region and Piranesi has used this ancient formation and created, in the Bustum Augustus, a very original design, and probably even an original program. This may be a good example where Piranesi used the reality of scant remains and metabolized the physical evidence into a rather overwrought architectural creation, however it must be said that the physical remains are large and this largeness of the triangular formation does suggest a rather large architectural complex. So in that regard, Piranesi may be justified in his largeness (and overwroughtness of) "original reconstruction."
This example brings to mind the concept of degrees of separation within the degrees og representation. The Bustum Augustus is perhaps an example where there are a number of degrees of separation within the degrees of representation. I will have to come up with a list of the degrees of representation and then fit the various building complexes into the list.
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