Ager Vaticanus
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ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
, the ''Ager Vaticanus'' (, "Vatican Field") was the alluvial plain on the right (west) bank of the
Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...
. It was also called ''Ripa Veientana'' or ''Ripa Etrusca'', indicating the Etruscan dominion during the archaic period. It was located between the
Janiculum The Janiculum (; ), occasionally known as the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the pro ...
, the
Vatican Hill Vatican Hill (; ; ) is a hill in Rome, located on the right bank (west side) of Tiber river, opposite to the traditional seven hills of Rome. The hill also gave the name to Vatican City. It is the location of St. Peter's Basilica. Etymology ...
, and
Monte Mario Monte Mario (English: Mount Mario or Mount Marius) is the hill that rises in the north-west area of Rome (Italy), on the right bank of the Tiber, crossed by the Via Trionfale. It occupies part of Balduina, of the territory of Municipio I, Munici ...
, down to the Aventine Hill and up to the confluence of the Cremera creek.Liverani (2016) p. 21


Origin of the name

About the etymology of ''Vātī̆cānus'' there are several hypotheses: according to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, the toponym perhaps refers to an archaic Etruscan settlement called ''Vaticum'';Gigli (1990) p. 7
Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...
derives the name from a childbirth deity named ''Vaticanus'' or '' Vagitanus'', the god of the ''vagiti'' ("wailings"), since ''va'' was supposed to be the first syllable pronounced by a child;
Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, ...
on his part derives the name from ''vāticinium'', a prophecy elicited by the flight of the birds or from the study of the liver of the victims of sacrifices and inspired by the god who controlled the area:Delli (1988) p. 947 the science of the ''Vaticini'' , the '' aruspicina'' or ''Etrusca Disciplina'', had been introduced in Rome by the Etruscans. This term was ultimately derived from ''vātēs'' (“soothsayer, prophet”) and ''canō'' (“to sing”).


History

During the first centuries of Rome, the ''Ager Vaticanus'' was the boundary between Rome and the powerful Etruscan city of Veii. After the Roman conquest of the rival city in 396 BC, the Centuriate Assembly kept the tradition of raising an ensign on the summit of the Janiculum hill, to signal a possible Etruscan raid. The hill was known as ''Antipolis'' ("anti-city" in Greek), in contrast with the Capitoline Hill. By the laws of the '' Duodecim Tabulae'', insolvent debtors could be sold into slavery, but only on the right bank of the Tiber. After Cincinnatus paid a large punitive fine for his son, it was recorded that he retired "like an exiled man" to his property in the ''Ager Vaticanus'', although the plain was already Roman territory. The toponym ''Ager Vaticanus'' is attested until the 1st century AD: afterwards, another toponym appeared, ''Vaticanus'', denoting an area much more restricted: the
Vatican Hill Vatican Hill (; ; ) is a hill in Rome, located on the right bank (west side) of Tiber river, opposite to the traditional seven hills of Rome. The hill also gave the name to Vatican City. It is the location of St. Peter's Basilica. Etymology ...
, today's St. Peter's Square, and possibly today's Via della Conciliazione.


''Horti''

The ''Ager Vaticanus'' lowland was exposed to the periodic floods of the Tiber, hosted vegetable gardens and vineyards, and was known for its unhealthy climate and bad wineGigli (1990) p. 8 until the end of the first century BC, when the development of local roads along the Via Cornelia (towards the port of Caere), the '' via Triumphalis'' towards Veii and the via Aurelia novaCoarelli (1975) p. 311 made possible for the families of the aristocracy the construction of luxurious private suburban residences (''Horti''). Excavations carried out in various periods in the area that stretches from
Santo Spirito in Sassia Church of the Holy Spirit in the Saxon District (Italian language, Italian: ''La chiesa di Santo Spirito in Sassia'') is a 12th-century Titular church, titular church in Rome, Italy. It is in ''Borgo Santo Spirito'', a street which got its name fr ...
Coarelli (1975) p. 318 to the Palazzaccio have brought to light traces of 1st and 2nd century buildings, pertinent to the '' Horti Agrippinae'' ("Agrippina's gardens"), belonging to
Agrippina the Elder (Vipsania) Agrippina the Elder (also, in Latin, , "Germanicus's Agrippina"; – AD 33) was a prominent member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (a close supporter of the first Roman emperor, Aug ...
, wife of
Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was a Roman people, Roman general and politician most famously known for his campaigns against Arminius in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicu ...
.Coarelli (1975) p. 310 After her death, the ''Horti'' passed to her son
Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...
, who had a hippodrome built there (the '' Circus Gaianus''). To mark its '' spina'', Caligula erected in the circus an Egyptian obelisk (the only one always standing, among the numerous
obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...
s in Rome); it was later moved in 1586 by
Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V (; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death, in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where h ...
(r. 1590–95) to St. Peter's Square. The ''circus'' and the ''Horti'' were inherited by
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
, who used both to lodge the Romans damaged by the great fire of 64, and to carry out the executions of the Christians accused of the fire itself.Liverani (2016) p. 23 Because of that, until the end of the Middle Ages the popular name of the area beyond the Tiber north of
Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin (). Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lion on a red background, the meaning of which i ...
remained ''Prata Neronis'' ("Nero's meadows").Castagnoli, (1958), p. 239 The neighboring '' Horti Domitiae'' ("Domitia's gardens"), owned either by
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
's wife,
Domitia Longina Domitia Longina ( 50–55 – 126–130s AD) was a Roman empress and wife to the Roman emperor Domitian. She was the youngest daughter of the general and consul Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Domitia divorced her first husband, Lucius Aelius Lami ...
, or by Nero's aunt, Domitia Lepida the Younger,Liverani (2016) p. 22 also flowed into the imperial property; in this area
Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
(r. 117–138) let later build his Mausoleum. Further away from the river,
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
had a '' Naumachia'' built, a facility intended to host naval battles.Coarelli (1975) p. 324


Roads

The ''Ager Vaticanus'' was serviced by two roads: the ''via Triumphalis'' and the ''via Cornelia''.Gigli (1990) p. 9 Both roads are well known from the ancient authors, but their real paths are unknown. There is consensus that the former, so called because of the triumphs of the Roman armies coming back from ''Veii'', started in the '' Campus Martius'', crossed the Tiber on the '' Pons Neronianus'', heading north in direction
Monte Mario Monte Mario (English: Mount Mario or Mount Marius) is the hill that rises in the north-west area of Rome (Italy), on the right bank of the Tiber, crossed by the Via Trionfale. It occupies part of Balduina, of the territory of Municipio I, Munici ...
and then flowing into the ''
via Cassia The Via Cassia () was an important Roman road striking out of the Via Flaminia near the Milvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far from Veii, traversed Etruria. The ''Via Cassia'' passed through Baccanae, Sutrium ...
''; About the ''Cornelias path there are several hypotheses: until the 1940s was a common opinion that the road branched from the ''Triumphalis'' at a short distance from the bridge of Nero, running in east-west direction. According to this hypothesis, the Christians condemned to death by Nero would have walked across this road while going to their
martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloqui ...
in the Circus of the emperor. However, since during the excavations in Borgo during the 1940s for the building of Via della Conciliazione no sign of the road was found, now many scholars think that the ''via Cornelia'' started from
Ponte Milvio The Milvian (or Mulvian) Bridge ( or ; or ) is a bridge over the Tiber in northern Rome, Italy. It was an economically and strategically important bridge in the era of the Roman Empire and was the site of the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge ...
and – running along the right bank of the Tiber – reached Hadrian's Mausoleum crossing the ''via Triumphalis'' in a place corresponding to the destroyed Piazza Scossacavalli in Borgo. A third road, the ''via Aurelia nova'', started from the '' Pons Aelius'' running southwest until today's Porta San Pancrazio.


Burial areas

The ''Ager Vaticanus'' always remained outside the walls of Rome and the '' pomerium''. According to Roman tradition, therefore, necropolises and sepulchers also settled along the streets that crossed it, and were normally left in place until the need arose to demolish them to make room for new buildings (like the Basilica of Saint Peter),Coarelli (1975), pp. 320–321 or to recover materials.Petacco (2016) pp. 35–37 This was the fate of the so-called '' Meta Romuli'' (the other funerary pyramid existing in Rome in addition to that of Gaius Cestius outside Porta San Paolo) and the nearby large cylindrical monument with overlapping tower called '' Terebinthus Neronis''; both burials were often considered in the Middle Ages as the place of Peter's martyrdom.Petacco (2016), p. 34 Traces of both monuments were found during the construction of the new buildings along Via della Conciliazione. Among the tombs, noteworthy is the one containing the sarcophagus of the young Crepereia Tryphaena; this contained, together with her funeral equipment, a doll with jointed arms. This find, occurred in 1889, aroused much public emotion. The most recent discovery in this field (which occurred in 2003 but was published only in 2006) is that of the large necropolis known as Santa Rosa's,Liverani (2016) p. 24 along the ''via Triumphalis'', which came to light during the excavation of the Vatican car park under the Janiculum hill. The latter site is not isolated, but constitutes a part of a vast burial ground which had been already discovered and explored in the 1950s, called "dell'Autoparco".Gigli (1990) p. 10


St. Peter's tomb and the Constantinian basilica

In one of these very modest sepulchres, the body of
Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
was handed down after his
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
under Nero.Coarelli (1974), p. 320 When Constantine legitimized the Christian cult with his
Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan (; , ''Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn'') was the February 313 agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Frend, W. H. C. (1965). ''The Early Church''. SPCK, p. 137. Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and ...
and began his Christian public building program with the Lateran, he didn't do so in the public spaces of Rome, but on areas lying to the margins of the urban area and belonging to the imperial state property.Krautheimer (1981), p. 34 Thus began the construction, in the 4th century, of the first basilica dedicated to St. Peter, established according to Christian usage above what tradition claims is his tomb (the ''confessio''), and founded on the north side of the ''Gaianum'' along the Via Cornelia. Part of the surrounding necropolis was submerged under the construction of the church, but partly re-emerged during the research of the tomb of Peter conducted in the 1940s–1950s.Coarelli (1974), p. 319


Bridges

The ''Ager Vaticanus'' was connected to Rome through two bridges: *Triumphal Bridge or '' Pons Neronianus in Sassiam'', mentioned in the '' Mirabilia''. The bridge was probably demolished during the construction of the Aurelian Walls,Liverani (2016) p. 28 but the remains of its pillars are visible still today during the lean flow periods of the
Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...
. *''Pons Aelius'' or ''Pons Hadriani'', then Ponte Sant'Angelo, built by Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138) to connect his mausoleum with the city.Coarelli (1974), p. 322


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{Roman history by territory Topography of the ancient city of Rome Rome R. XIV Borgo Rome R. XXII Prati Geography of Vatican City