1998.02.24
interesting interesting
Hi Sue,
Thanks for providing the translation; it is all very interesting, and, like you say, a lot to sort through.
I should have mentioned that I found Domitae and her garden referenced in the 1904(?) Rome Topography guide by Plattner that I told you I found at Paley Library this past summer. Domitae (Nero's aunt) and her garden are further referenced (through Plattner) in Tacitus (and I think one other source--I don't have the text in front of me) when apparently Tacitus mentions that Nero had Domitae killed and then took her garden, which he then added to his own garden along with the adjacent garden of Agripinnae (Nero's mother) whose garden Nero also took after he had his mother killed. Ultimately, that whole area in the Ichnographia west of the Tiber became the Gardens of Nero, and thus seems to have remained Imperial property at least down until the time of Constantine.
I agree with you that there is much to feel ambiguous about, and I think there is even room for speculation as to whether Piranesi was even trying to intentionally confuse the issue. In the end, however, if there indeed was a circus in the garden of Domitae (besides the Circus Hadriani and regardless of who it was named for), then Piranesi's delineation of two circuses within the area of Hadrian's tomb is not a pure fantasy!
Steve
1998.03.14
Augustus - India connection
Today, in reading Suetonius' Life of Ceasar Augustus, there is mention of envoys from India coming to Rome to pay homage to Augustus Ceasar. Coincidentally, I looked through The Story of Architecture (1997) and came across a photograph of the Great Stumpa in India dating from the 1st century AD. What is amazing is that the Indian structure is very much like the tomb of Augustus in Rome. I am more or less convinced that the Indian structure was inspired by the Roman tomb [sic it's more likely India inspired Rome via drawings], and indeed the whole use of iconography in the Indian complex relates very much to the use of architectural iconography that Indian envoys would have seen in first century Rome.
The fact that Augustus Ceasar was deified soon after his death, I believe, only adds to the historical possibility that 1st century Roman architecture could have made a profound influence on envoys returning to India with knowledge and information regarding the beginning of Imperial Rome.
For me, the major proof of a real connection between the tomb of Augustus and the Great Stumpa is there almost umbelievable similarity in size and style. This connection, moreover, could lead to an even further investigation of similarities between Roman architecture and the architecture of the south Asia.
Further along in time, I also came across a photo of a Buddhist temple/shrine in Java (9th century), and it too has a similarity to the tomb of Augustus and the Great Stupa, and the overall elaborateness of the Java shrine also reminded me of the elaborate architectural planning style of Piranesi (esp. in the Campo Marzio). I also see a strong Hindu influence with regard to the many corners of the Java shrine. Although I doubt very much that Piranesi had any great knowledge of Asian architecture, there is, nonetheless, a strong similarity between the planning patterns of Piranesi and the layout of huge Asian religious complexes. I have to investigate all this somewhat further, and I think all this subject matter will ultimately relate to the architecture of fertility story.
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1998.03.20
Life Death Triumphal Way - the beginning of my Campo Marzio story
It is now exactly one year since Quondam's first exhibit and the presentation of the notion of life and death in the Campo Marzio. Practically all that I now know about the meaning of Piranesi's Ichnographia has come to me within the last year, and hence I feel it now appropriate to reissue the Campo Marzio portions of the exhibit and with it start my entire treatment of the life and death axes and the triumphal way. This will, of course, turn out to be a major documentation, and there are still some obstacles such as portion of the Triumphal Way that I have not yet redrawn, but overall I think I can tackle the whole narrative because my delivery of the data will be both objective and personal.
My mode of objective writing mixed with personal writing is not yet tested, but I have a feeling that this first text will evolve throughout the process, and will simultaneously provide a vast variety of connections to all the other topics regarding the Ichnographia that will be presented in due course. While the Stirling essays are a clear example of the format I will fundamentally follow, I will also make an effort to experiment with other types of texts that are as complex and overlapping as the Ichnographia itself. (In fact, I will be presenting my process of writing on the Ichnographia as trying to emulate the organization of the Campo Marzio itself.) No doubt, I will try to make use of all the novel options available with HTML and animated gifs.
As to the subject matter, I will remain focused specifically on the three concepts of life, death, and the Triumphal Way. Each of these topics, however, bring a number of other concepts with them, such as inversion, reversal, and beginning and end, and the whole notion of reenactment. I think I'll be able to bring up these coincidental topics in the form of an introduction, and subsequently link to other (forthcoming) texts that will elaborate on the introduced topics individually, treating each topic as an essay itself. I know there are going to be many connections and cross references throughout, and their shear number may at times seem to work against my narrative plan, but I am hoping that at each breech in the development, I will be able to turn whatever difficulty arises into not only an advantage, but an integral part of the overall scheme as well. I am sincerely hoping that once I start, the words and the story will just continue to flow, if not at times overflow.
As I already mentioned, there is still a good amount of redrawing that I have to do with regard to the triumpahl way, and I need this graphic data to tell the story. I must, therefore, begin redrawing the needed sections immediately. I know this will require a major effort that will take away from my other projects, but actually getting the drawing portion done will also liberate my ability to write about the Triumphal Way in depth. I also need the area of and around the Arch of Theodosius et al.
1998.03.20
Campo Marzio bibliography & my own reenactment process
Not surprisingly, I already see the proposed annotated bibliography as producing a narrative text about itself and especially about the record of my own research process -- actually a record of how the research process and my ultimate Campo Marzio narrative grew, changed, and developed along the way. What will be of overall interest is that nearly all the texts contributed major pieces of the puzzle, that while it could be looked at as a grand collage, the final picture is nonetheless a strongly cohesive unit of data that points ostenibly to the fact that Piranesi knew virtually all there is to know about the ancient Roman Campo Marzio, and, moreover, the Ichnographia is the metabolic catharsis of Piranesi’s almost unfathomable assimilation of knowledge attained throughout the decade or so immediately prior to the drawing of the Ichnographia and the ultimate publication of Il Campo Marzio. Last night I thought of how Piranesi’s first mode of operation was assimilation of the data--this lead to years of more and more intense osmosis with the material as well--and finally the abundant assimilation and osmosis sparked a whole new metabolic catharsis which manifested itself as Il Campo Marzio.
In seeing the bibliography as a whole, I also began to see how I too was/am assimilating vast amounts of knowledge and history, and, furthermore, since I think about or actually work on some aspect of the Campo Marzio practically everyday, I too am now experiencing the effects of continual osmosis. Hence, I am myself now on the verge of a metabolic catharsis.
1998.04.05
Piranesi’s Campo Marzio: from beginning to end
...a hyper essay whose underlying theme is the Campo Marzio’s beginning and its end. This concerns the notions of origins and demise, rise and fall, the great span of time, extremes and means, reenactment, and inversion. At the core of the essay will be the notion of chronology, but not just a chronology of Rome as a city and its individual buildings, but also the beginning and end of the Campo Marzio text (and illustrations), and, furthermore, the beginning and the end of my own investigation and research.
...the alpha-omega theme allows inclusion of all the diverse and complexly related issues. Above all, it will get me started by simply allowing me to start at the beginning. ...an experimental document. Indeed, Piranesi’s own method of narrative with twists and turns and inversions will be a guide. ...not a meaningless “bricolage.” In fact, a proof that the Ichnographia is percisely not a meaningless “bricolage.”
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1998.04.10
Tacitus Catalogo references
Annals Book I:
Busto di Casare Augusto
Annals Book II:
Orti di Guil. Cesare lasciati al popolo romano
Orti di Luciliani
Septi Guili
Tempio della Fortuna forte nella Regione Trasteverina
Tempio di Giano presso il foro Olitorio
Annals Book III:
Nemus, o d'Agrippa collo stagno
Porto presso il Mausoleo d'Augusto
Statua di Pompeo Magno nella Curia Pompejana
Via Flaminia
Annals Book V:
Portichi Neroniani nei colli degli orti
Teatro di Pompeo
Annals Book XIII:
Taverne
Annals Book XIV:
Circo Apollinare di Cajo e Nerone
Ginnassio di Nerone
Naumachia di Nerone
Orti d'Agrippina
Valle Vaticana
Annals Book XV:
Oliarie, o magazzini d'olio
Orti Neroniani
Portichi fatti per l'amenita
Stagno d'Agrippa
Annals Book XVI:
Sepolcro di Guilio Cesare
Histories Book I:
Orti di Argiani
Statua di Guilio Cesare
Histories Book III:
Colli degli Orti
Orti Salustiai
Portico Vispanio
Via Salaria
1998.04.10 (originally 1998.03.16)
Campo Marzio - bibliography
see the Encyclopedia Ichnographiam bibliography for most recent list of texts.
1998.04.10
Campo Marzio - compiling old material
... ...a title for the book - Drawing, Redrawing, Search, Research - and archeology of the imagination. ...
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1998.04.12
Campo Marzio - Latin dictionary
Overall, the Latin dictionary is giving me a substantial research ability, and hence a true confidence in the reenactment-interpretive work that I am doing. Moreover, translating all the terms is indeed necessary if I truly want to consider myself following in Piranesi's footsteps.
1998.04.12
Ara Martis
I have long wondered what significance I would find in the Templum and Ara Martis that is situated next to the Circus Agonalis. It has never escaped my attention that this altar and temple to Mars are representative of the very original altar to Mars from which the entire campus Martius receives its name--indeed this altar is the very first "structure" of the campus. What has always been troubling is that the Triumphal Way does not begin at this temple, along with the fact that Piranesi "creates" a whole separate Temple and Area Martis on the other side of the Tiber. I already figured out the planning behind the Vatican Area Martis, but now what is Piranesi's intention for planning the Ara Martis and its surroundings the way he does.
My question has been answered in now knowing the exact program of the Alexander Severus complex. The key to this understanding is the porticus providing shade from the heat of the day. I didn't know this program before, but it tells me that the temple and ara Martis is surrounded by a very generous public amenity. Knowing this causes me to rethink the entire function of the place especially with regard to the Domus Ale. Sev., the Circus, and the neighboring police station and brothel and baths, etc. Essentially, this is one huge multi-use complex that joins the very public with the very formal private-governmental. With the inclusion of the circus and baths, moreover, the entire "building" defines what could be considered a new typological urban prototype, one that Piranesi's designs himself, and, because of the great time span between the first altar of Mars and the reign of Alex. Sev., there is also a sense of maturity, i.e., a maturity of design and urban purpose with regard to Rome itself. Essentially, the early (proto) temple of Mars becomes, over time, the centerpiece of a public "park," which is surrounded by an Imperial Palace, and, because of the porticus and the circus, the entire populus of Rome itself. It is a program that is superior in its programmatic function and in its programmatic symbolism.
As I am writing this note, Philadelphia's Independence Mall comes to mind because, like the Ara Martis complex, Independence Hall is the birthplace of the United States--the program for both sites is virtually identical. In fact, the Rome example sheds tremendous inspirational light upon the Philadelphia site in that the Mall already has a set of porticus, and whose focal point is a founding point, but it doesn't have an Imperial-governmental residence. Suddenly, I see a whole new connection between Rome (ancient and Ichnographia) and Philadelphia. This now has tremendous implications for Quondam and even beyond, e.g., my own Ichnographia for Philadelphia (so far the Parkway, and my old Independence Mall scheme, and, of course Tekene, the Cedar Grove of Olney).
I forgot to mention the idea that the Ara Martis complex, in its collection of typologies, is somewhat similar to Schinkel's Altes Museum in the way that that building is also a composite of typologies.
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