The Meta Sudans (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: "sweating turning post") was a large monumental conical

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

in ancient

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Date and location

The Meta Sudans was built some time between 89 and 96 under the Flavian emperors, a few years after the AD 80 completion of the nearby

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

. It was built between the Colosseum and the

Temple of Venus and Roma The Temple of Venus and Roma (Latin: ''Aedes Veneris et Romae'') is thought to have been the largest Roman temple, temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, it was dedicat ...

, close to the later

Arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine () is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312 ...

, at the juncture of four regions of ancient Rome: regions I, III, IV, X (and perhaps II).

Name, function, and structure

A '' meta'' was a tall conical object in a Roman

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

that stood at either end of the central ''

spina Spina was an Etruscan port city, established by the end of the 6th century BCE, on the Adriatic at the ancient mouth of the Po. Discovery The site of Spina was lost until modern times, when drainage schemes in the delta of the Po River in 19 ...

'', around which racing

chariot A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...

s would turn. The Meta Sudans had the same shape, and also functioned as a similar kind of turning point, in that it marked the spot where a

Roman triumph The Roman triumph (') was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or, in some historical t ...

al procession would turn left from the via Triumphalis along the east side of the

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

onto the

via Sacra The Via Sacra (, "''Sacred Street''") was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum. The road ...

and into the

Forum Romanum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along ...

itself. The Meta Sudans was built of a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

and

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

core, faced with

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

. It seems to have "sweated" the water (''sudans'' means "sweating"), rather than jetting it out the top. This may mean that it oozed out the top, or perhaps that water came from holes in its side. The monument is estimated to have stood up to 17 m tall; until the 20th century, its concrete core was still over 9 m high. It had a base pool 16 m wide and 1.4 m deep.

Destruction, remains

The fountain was obviously damaged in the Middle Ages because it already appears as a ruin in early views of the Colosseum. Photos from the end of the 19th century show a conical structure of solid bricks next to the Arch of Constantine, surrounded by its own original, reflecting stone pool. The ruins of Meta Sudans survived until 1936, when

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

had its remains demolished and paved over to make room for the new traffic circle around the Colosseum. A commemorative plaque was set in the road. Although the above-ground structure is gone, its foundations were later re-excavated, revealing the extensive substructure. After another excavation in 1997-98 the traffic circle was closed and the area became a pedestrian zone. Extensive excavations directed by Clementina Panella of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" have revealed extensive archaeological information about the Meta Sudans and the northeast slope of the Palatine Hill.ROMA – VALLE DEL COLOSSEO – PALATINO NORD-ORIENTALE http://archeopalatino.uniroma1.it/it

References

Sources

"Meta Sudans"
From Samuel Ball Platner, ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'', rev. Thomas Ashby. Oxford, 1929, p. 340-341. * Coarelli, Filippo, ''Guida Archeologica di Roma'', Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1989, . * Claridge, Amanda, ''Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, .
ROMA – VALLE DEL COLOSSEO – PALATINO NORD-ORIENTALE
* Panella, Clementina. 1996. ''Meta sudans. I: Un'area sacra in Palatio e la valle del Colosseo prima e dopo Nerone''. Rome: Istituto poligrafico e zecca dello stato : Libreria dello Stato.

External links

{{commons, Meta sudans (Rome) in art
Conjectured reconstruction of the Meta SudansDescription in the site of the "Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il MNR e l'Area Archeologica di Roma"
Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome Rome R. I Monti