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Encyclopedia Ichnographica

Amphitheatrum Statilii Tauri

The first stone amphitheatre in Rome was built in 29 B.C. by L. Statilius Taurus. It belonged to the family of the builder, and seems to have been of small size. It was burned in the great fire of 64 A.D., but Nero immediately erected a wooden amphitheater, perhaps on the site of that of Taurus. No traces of either amphitheater have been found, but the slight elevation in the campus Martitis, called monte Giordano, is thought by some to have been caused by the ruins of the building of Taurus. (Platner)

Vincenzo Fasolo, "The Campo Marzio of G. B. Piranesi".
2691a 2691f
1956

2007.10.02
Someone should tell...
Someone should tell Ouroussoff that the Colosseum isn't even delineated within the Ichnographia Campi Martii. At least we now know what readymade architectural journalism looks like.

Amphitheatrum Statilii Tauri

2008.08.08 13:27
The arrogance of 'Architects'
In the Ichnographia Campo Martius "certain landmarks remained: the Tiber River, the Piazza Navona, and a Colosseum-like structure, which was in the wrong location and, in a sense, at the wrong scale."
--Peter Eisenman, "Piranesi and the City" (2007).
In fact, the 'Colosseum-like structure' is clearly labeled Amphitheatum Statilii Tauri, positioned by Piranesi in its most likely location, and delineated at about 2/3rds the size of 'the Colosseum' which is probably what the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus was.
Eisenman's misrepresentation of the facts here is somewhat compounded in that Wilton-Ely had already years earlier noted the presence of the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus within Piranesi's Campo Marzio.
Eisenman inerpretes Piranesi's Ichnographia Campus Martius in several self-serving ways, but he never comes to realize that on one level the Ichnographia Campus Martius is a gigantic test of Ancient Roman topography.

"Hey Doctor. I don't know what you want me to see, but this thing I'm looking through looks like some plan from Piranesi's Campo Marzio.

2013.12.24 19:05
24 December

There are many instances where buildings delineated within the Ichnographia Campus Martius are presented together yet actually never existed at the same time. For example, the Amphitheatrum Statilii Tauri burned in the great fire of 64 A.D., and the Columna apotheoseos Antonini Pii (depicted just right of the amphitheater) was erected in 162, and the Columna Cochlidos (depicted left and just behind the amphitheater) was erected in 192.

Similarly, the T[emplum] Pietatis and the Theatrum Marcelli are delineated together within the Ichnographia, yet the temple of Pietas was destroyed by Augustus in order to make room for the theater of Marcellus.

Of more interest, however, is that Piranesi also omitted buildings that should have been delineated within the Ichnographia. While the Sepulchrum Honorij Imp., the mausoleum built by the emperor Honorius circa 400, is within the Ichnographia, the building that the mausoleum was in actuality attached to, the basilica of St. Peter built by the emperor Constantine circa 330, is not delineated within the Ichnographia.

To: James Adam
From: Robert Adam
Date: 13 September 1755
[I] got [Piranesi] to finish the whole of Rome and to publish it alone without joining it in a book whose principal dedication was to my Lord Charlemont, which made mine less regarded, whereas mine being sold separate all the world will purchase it and have no other name to detract from the honour of the intention.

Within the first volume of Le Antichità Romane are a series of plans of ancient Rome: baths of Titus, topographical map, barracks of Tiberius, baths of Caracalla, nymphaeum of Nero, baths of Diocletian, Forum Romanum, Capitoline Hill. When combined with the Ichnographia Campus Martius these plans constitute an almost complete plan of ancient Rome.

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