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  • Angolo Vie Manin, Giolitti
  • Roma
  •  
  • Italy
  • Lazio
  • Rome
  • Rome

Credits

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  • AIAC_logo logo

Monuments

Periods

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Chronology

  • 200 AD - 400 AD

Season

    • At the end of 1872 Lanciani discovered the remains of a small but luxurious domus situated a little to the east of the crossroads between via Manin and via Giolitti (at that time via Principessa Margherita). The recovery of an inscribed fistula aquaria of the 3rd century A.D., L(ucius)·Octavius Felix c(larissimus)·v(ir) (CIL XV, 7503) enabled the domus to be attributed to a specific owner, a member of the senatorial class, who could be identified with a well known person who had lived during the Severan period. On the basis of its typology the complex was dated to the beginning of the 4th century A.D. In May 1998, the excavation of a well (P8), in preparation for the “microtunneling” work necessary for the modernization of the sewers below Piazza Cinquecento and surrounding streets, brought to light a room paved in a geometric mosaic with meander patterns which Lanciani had drawn on his plan of the domus when it was first discovered. Between the 9th September 1998 and the 11th January 1999 other rooms belonging to the small domus were uncovered during the modernization of Termini station. These have been integrated into the plan of the complex to the north and north-east, in fact the last structures found fit perfectly with the alignment of the 19th century plan. The typology of the complex, characterized by the presence of multi-apsed rooms in opus vittatum typical of late antique architecture provides strong support for the hypothesis that these structures formed part of the domus owned by the senator Lucius Octavius Felix. (Oberdan Menghi-Manola Pales)

Bibliography

    • R. Lanciani, 1872-73, Delle scoperte principali avvenute nei colli Viminale ed Esquilino, in Bullettino Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma: 66-90 (in particolare 79-81, tav. VII e 6.1).
    • Forma Urbis Romae (Milano 1893-1901), Roma, 1988, tav. 17: «Scavi 26.XI.1872».
    • S.B. Platner, 1929, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Oxford: 186.
    • Ministero della P.I. - Direzione Generale AA.BB.AA., Carta Archeologica di Roma, Istituto Geografico Militare, III (1977), fig. 3.
    • F. Guidobaldi, 1995, in Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae II, s.v. Domus, L. Octavius Felix, Roma: 147-148.
    • O. Menghi-M. Pales, 1999, La casa di Lucio Ottavio Felice. La domus ritrovata, in Forma Urbis n. 4 (Aprile): 16-21.
    • O. Menghi-M. Pales, 2000, I ritrovamenti archeologici, in Roma Termini, Bologna: 128-133.
    • O. Menghi-M. Pales, 2001, Via Giolitti. Domus L. Octavii Felicis, in F. Filippi (a cura di), Archeologia e Giubileo. Gli interventi a Roma e nel Lazio nel Piano per il Grande Giubileo del 2000, Napoli: 226-231.
    • W. Eck, 1995, in Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae II, s.v. Domus, L. Octavius Felix: 148.
    • Prosopographia Imperii Romani (2), O 31, 32.
    • H.G. Pflaum, 1960-61, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire Romain, Paris, vol. II: 712 ss.
    • O. Menghi, M. Pales, 1998, Ritrovamenti archeologici in Piazza dei Cinquecento. Progetto Nodo di Termini. Via Giolitti: pozzi P5, P6, P8, STA Sistemi di Trasporti S.p.A., Roma Maggio-Giugno 1998: 15-21 (relazione preliminare, inedita).
    • G. Becatti, 1960, Scavi di Ostia IV, Roma: 89 n° 151, tav. 25; 64 n° 82 tav. 29.
    • Le meandre a panettons de clef dans la mosaique romaine, in Mosaique. Requel d'hommage a Henry Stern, Paris 1983: 195-213.