[image ALT: Much of my site will be useless to you if you've got the images turned off!]
mail:
Bill Thayer

[image ALT: Cliccare qui per una pagina di aiuto in Italiano.]
Italiano

[Link to a series of help pages]
Help
[Link to the next level up]
Up
[Link to my homepage]
Home

M

The entries on pp322-356 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

 p322  Macellenses: a name applied to those who dwelt near the macellum Liviae, found only in one inscription (CIL VI.31897; BC 1891, 356).

Macellum: see separate page.

(p323) Macellum Liviae: see separate page.

Macellum Magnum: see separate page.

(p324) Magna Mater, sacellum (?): see separate page.

Mater Deum, aedes: see separate page.

(p325) Magna Mater, aedes*: see separate page.

Magna Mater, tholus: see separate page.

(p326) Magna Mater (in Vaticano): see separate page.

Malum Punicum, ad: see separate page.

Ad Mammam: see Diaetae Mammaeae.

Manalis Lapis: see separate page.

Mancina Tifata: see Tifata Mancina.

Mansiones Saliorum Palatinorum: apparently shrines in different parts of the city at which the Salii halted in their annual procession, known to us only from one inscription (CIL VI.2158) on the marble facing of the temple of Mars Ultor in the forum of Augustus, which records a restoration of these mansiones in or after 382 A.D. (Jord. I.2.447; DS IV.1018). From this inscription and a reference to a dinner of the Salii in the temple of Mars (Suet. Claud. 33) it is clear that one of these mansiones was in this temple.

Mansuetae: a locality in Region VII (Not. Cur.), otherwise unknown. The name suggests a group of statues representing tamed animals with 'ferae' as a correlative (Eranos 1923, 49; see Hecatostylon.)

 p327  Mappa Aurea: mentioned in Not. in Region XIII, and on a slave's collar (CIL XV.7182: ad mappa(m) aurea(m) in Abentino). Whether this was a vicus or a building is uncertain. The name suggests the mappa with which the praetor​1 gave the signal for the beginning of the games in the circus, and this street or building was probably near or over­looking the carceres of the circus Maximus (HJ 170; BC 1887, 290‑295; Mitt. 1889, 260; 1892, 295; NS 1881, 138; Merlin 321).

Divus Marcus, templum: a temple of Marcus Aurelius which probably stood just west of his column (q.v.), in the same relation to it as the temple of Trajan to his column. It was erected to the deified emperor by the senate (Hist. Aug. Marc. 18; Aur. Vict. Caes. 16; Ep. 16), and is mentioned only once afterwards (Not. Reg. IX;º HJ 608; Gilb. III.128).

Marmorata: the modern name for the wharf where marble was loaded, downstream of the west side of the Aventine (see Emporium). A bull of 926 (Reg. Subl. n. 18, p18) mentions an oratorium S. Gimiliani . . . in regione prima . . . in ripa Graeca iuxta marmorata supra fluvium Tiberis, which recurs in the twelfth century (ib. n. 183, p224), but had already disappeared in the sixteenth. It was probably in the southern part of the regio Marmoratae towards the horrea (HCh 253‑254). Until lately numerous blocks of marble were still to be seen there (Jord. I.1.434; Ann. d. Inst. 1870, 105; LR 527; LF 39, 40; HJ 174); but this regio did not correspond with the locality now called Marmorata, which was included in the mediaeval regio horrea, but lay further upstream under the west angle of the Aventine adjacent to the regio schole Grece (HCh c. n. 2; cf. 174, 198, 402, and v. supra, p44).

Mars [in Capitolio]: see separate page.

(p328) Mars, aedes [in via Appia]: see separate page.

Mars, aedes [in circo Flaminio]: see separate page.

(p329) Mars, ara: see separate page.

Mars Invictus: see separate page.

Mars, templum [in Castra Praetoria]: see separate page.

Mars Ultor, aedes: see Forum Augustum.

(p330) Mars Ultor, templum: see separate page.

Martis Lucus:º see [Aedes Martis].

Martis Sacrarium: see Regia.

Marsyas: see Statua Marsyae.

(p331) Mater Matuta, aedes: see separate page.

Matidia, ara: see separate page.

Matidia, templum: see separate page.

 p332  Mausolea Augustorum: see Sepulcrum Mariae Stilichonis.

(pp333‑335) Mausoleum Augusti: see separate page.


(pp336‑338)
Mausoleum Hadriani: see separate page.

Mefitis, aedes, lucus: see separate page.

 p339  Mens, aedes: see separate page.

Mercurius, aedes: see separate page.

Mercurius Sobrius: see Vicus Sobrius.

 p340  Metae Mercuriae: see Sacellum Murciae.

Meta Romuli: see separate page.

(p341) Meta Sudans: see separate page.

Mica Aurea: see separate page.

Mica Aurea in Ianiculo: see separate page.

(p342) Milliarium Aureum: see separate page.

Minerva, aedes: see separate page.

(p343) Minerva, templum: see separate page.

Minerva, delubrum: a shrine dedicated by Pompeius, who built it out of the spoils of his campaigns (Plin. NH VII.97: Pompeius . . . hos honores urbi tribuit in delubro Minervae quod ex manubiis dicavit). Nothing is known of the history of this temple (see Minerva Chalcidica).

Minerva: see Forum Nervae.

(p344) Minerva Capta (Minervium): see separate page.

Minerva Chalcidica: a temple mentioned in Reg. (Cur. Reg. IX, om. Not.) between the Iseum and the Pantheon, and included among the buildings erected by Domitian (Chron. 146; Hier. a. Abr. 2105). It is also mentioned in Eins. (Jord. II.654) 8.7 as Minervium; ibi S. Maria, and in the Mirabilia (22) as iuxta Pantheon templum Minervae Calcidiae. Whether it was a restoration of the temple built by Pompeius (NH VII.97) cannot be determined. The church of S. Maria sopra Minerva was known as S. Maria de Minerva until the fifteenth century: and we need not suppose that it is built on part of the foundations of this temple. Some authorities believe that part of the cella itself was still standing in the early sixteenth century (BC 1883, 42; LR 463; HJ 573‑574).​2 (For the history of this church, see Arm. 485‑489; HCh 346‑347).

(p345) Minerva Medica: see separate page.

Minutus, Minucius, ara, sacellum: see Porticus Minucia.

Mithraeum: see (1) Domus Clementis, (2) Thermae Antoninianae. (3) Another, in Piazza S. Silvestro, was built by a certain Tamesius Augentius Olympus, nephew of Nonius Victor, in 357‑362, and probably destroyed in 391‑2 (Cumont, Textes et Monuments, I.354, No. 17; CIL VI.754; PT 124). (4) See Domus Nummiorum. (5) A well-preserved Mithraeum (with a Lararium above) was found in 1885 east of S. Martino ai Monti (BC 1885, 27‑38; Lanciani, ancient Rome, 191‑194; Cumont, Textes et Mon. II.199, No. 15; HJ 316, 317). (6) Another was found opposite S. Vitale in the Vigna Muti (Cumont, op. cit. II.196‑7, No. 10). (7) For a small Mithraeum found on the Quirinal (in Via Mazzarino), see CIL VI.31039. (8) A Mithraeum existed on the Capitol as late as 1391, but it was destroyed between 1550 and 1594, and the relief belonging to it is in the Louvre (No. 559; Cumont, II.193‑195, No. 6). A small chapel with a relief was found in 1872; ibid. No. 7: I.351; cf. BC 1872‑3, 111 (the reference in the legend of S. Silvester is to a grotto of Hecate). The position of the rest of the Mithraea enumerated by Cumont (op. cit.) cannot be fixed. (9) For a (doubtful) Mithraeum on the Aventine near S. Saba, see NS 1925, 384.

Molinae: see separate page.

Moneta or Moneta Caesaris: the imperial mint in Region III (Not. Cur.). Its site on the via Labicana close to S. Clemente is indicated by the discovery at this point in the sixteenth century of several inscriptions which record dedications to Apollo (CIL VI.42), Fortuna (43), Hercules  p346 (44), Victoria (791), Genius familiae monetalis (239), by the various officials of the mint (cf. also CIL VI.298, 1145, 1146, 1647 = X.1710, 33726 = XV.7140; Hirschfeld, Verwaltungsbeamten, 181‑189). These dedications date from 115 A.D., but the mint was probably established here considerably earlier, though not before the time of Vespasian, when the domus aurea, which must have included this site, was abolished (HJ 303; LS III.152).

Monetarii: the name applied to workers in the imperial mint (see Moneta) and also, apparently, to the district where they dwelt or had their headquarters (CIL VI.31893 b, 8; BC 1891, 356).

Mons Romuleus: see Statua Salonini Gallieni.

Monumentum Argentariorum: see Arcus Septimi Severi (in Foro Boario).

Monumentum Arruntiorum: see Sepulcrum Arruntiorum.

Monumentum Aureliorum: a tomb discovered in 1919 on the right of the via Labicana, close to the horti Torquatiani, on the south-east of the modern Viale Manzoni. It is almost certainly to be attributed to the period of the Severi. The name is given by an inscription in mosaic in the floor. The paintings of the subterranean interior, which are of great interest, have been variously interpreted; the latest authority, Wilpert (Mem. AP I.2.1‑43) interprets them as Gnostic, but eclectic. The Sermon on the Mount is clear; but this, like the other scenes, e.g. the clothing of the naked and the feeding of the hungry, might deceive a pagan visitor into supposing that there was nothing Christian about this tomb. In the series of the Apostles a portrait of S. Peter (the earliest we have) and in the upper chamber representations of Adam and Eve may be clearly recognized.

Cf. also NS 1920, 123‑141; 1912, 230‑234; Boll. d'Arte, 1921, 97; Mon. L. XXVIII.289 sqq.; YW 1920, 85; 1922‑3, 100; 1923‑4, 107; 1924‑5, 86‑88; AA 1921, 111‑114; 1926, 97, 98; Cecchelli, L'ipogeo eretico degli Aurelii (Rome, 1928), supposes that it may be Montanist.

Monumentum Cinciorum: see Cincia.

Monumentum Domitiorum: see Sepulcrum Domitiorum.

Monumentum Iuliorum: see Tumulus Iuliae.

Monumentum Marii (in Capitolio): see Tropaea Marii.

Monumentum Mariana (Monumentum Marii): see Aedes Honoris et Virtutis Mariana.

Monumentum Statiliorum: see Sepulcrum Statiliorum.

Mucialis Collis: see Quirinalis Collis.

(pp347‑348) Mundus: see separate page.

Murcia: see separate page.

Murcus Mons: see Aventinus Mons.

(pp349‑350) Muri Aureliani: see separate page.

Murus Mustellinus: the probable reading in Festus 154: Mutini Tutini sacellum fuit in Veliis adversum murum mustellinum, but no explanation of the epithet has been given (mustela = weasel).

Murus Ruptus: see Horti Aciliorum.

(pp351‑355) Murus Servii Tullii: see separate page.

Murus Terreus: an earthwork known only from one obscure passage in Varro (LL V.48: eidem regioni adtributa Subura quod sub muro terreo Carinarum), in whose time it appears to have been still preserved in part. As the Carinae (q.v.) was on the western end of the Oppius, and the Subura (q.v.) was between the Oppius and the Viminal, this work probably ran round the north-west edge of the Oppius and extended as far east as the present church of S. Pietro in Vincoli. It is also probable that the work was on the summit of the hill, or just a little way down on the slope, and that it belonged to the system of fortification of the Oppius at that early period when such earth walls were still in use and the settlements on this and the adjacent hills were independent of each other (Pinza, BC 1898, 93; 1912, 86‑87; Mon. L. XV.783‑785, and pl. xxv; HJ 263). It may also have been incorporated in part in the fortification of the Septimontium (q.v.).

The murus terreus has also been placed between the Oppius and the Capitolium along the brook Spinon (Schneider, Mitt. 1895, 167‑178), between the Carinae and the Velia (Pais, Storia di Roma I.1.631), on the hill itself dividing the Oppius and Carinae (Richter 38; cf. Mél. 1908, 274‑276), but none of these theories is satisfactory.

Mutatorium Caesaris: an imperial property in Region I (Not. Cur.), represented on a fragment (3) of the Marble Plan, and situated without much doubt on the east side of the via Appia, opposite the baths of Caracalla (Jord. II.107‑108, 512). Different explanations of this name  p356 have been given, but no certainty attaches to any of them (Pr. Reg. 115; HJ 205; Gilb. III.350).3

Mutunus Tutunus: (Titin(i)us,​4 Müll., Linds.), sacellum: a shrine of the ancient Italic deity of fertility on the Velia, probably not far from the Regia, which was destroyed during the principate of Augustus to make room for the house of Cn. Domitius Calvinus (Fest. 154, 155; Jord. I.2.419; Gilb. I.156). The site of the shrine seems to be indicated on a sarcophagus now in the Naples museum (Hülsen, Satura Pompeiana Romana 5‑9, in Symbolae litterariae in honorem Iulii de Petra, 1911, and literature there cited; see also WR 243; Rosch. II.204‑207).


The Authors' Notes:

1 Or rather the presiding magistrate (supra, 119).

2 Giovannoli (Roma Antica, III.13), reproduced in BC 1901, pl. III, does not, however, represent the temple, but part of the Thermae Agrippae (q.v.).

3 I see no reason against accepting Hülsen's explanation, that here the Emperor changed into his travelling carriage, the adjacent Area Carruces (q.v.) serving the same purpose for private travellers. Driving was of course forbidden in the city: and mutatio is the regular name for a post station.

4 Müller also has Titini. The form Tutunus is, however, as Gilbert points out, constantly used by Christian writers (e.g. Aug. de Civ. Dei, IV.11).


[image ALT: Valid HTML 4.01.]

Page updated: 10 Feb 18